Guns and Gangs 101
by ShyGemini2108
Summary: When Gail comes in for a day overtime, she expects it to be just boring paperwork, however it may lead her back to the person she is meant to be with.
1. Chapter 1

***I own nothing***

***But comments and reviews are welcomed* :)**

Early Mornings

It was always the loneliness that pulled Peck away from her sleep. Gail was no stranger to sleeping alone, but now, it felt like a cruel joke. She turned over and reached for the cell phone on her nightstand; 3:14…at least she had slept until 3 this morning. She ran her hand over her newly shortened hair and yawned from the exhaustion of the situation. It was an impossible feeling; the feeling of wanting someone who now doesn't want her back. Geez, she sighed, she had been right on the cusps of happiness, and she had somehow let her insecurities make her doubt the one person she truly wanted to be with completely.

Gail lay flat on her back and strolled down her contact list, stopping on the name Holly. Even the name was beautiful on the glowing screen and Gail couldn't help feeling a tug at the pit of her stomach as she tossed the phone back on the nightstand. What was the matter with her? It had been six day, long, empty days, since she had seen Holly. It began simply, with a severed thumb and a trip to the morgue to catch a print off of it, but it had ended in heartbreak for Gail. She had assumed, falsely but eagerly, that she could just blow off the past several weeks between the two. No, she hadn't answered Holly's calls or even tried to contact her in those weeks, but her feelings were hurt. She had known that Holly was a doctor, she didn't need Holly's bitchy friend to remind her. And then Holly had placated the bitch implicitly, as if Gail wasn't good enough to defend. "A beat cop…just having a good time," Gail mumbled to herself in an attempt to fortify her anger against Holly and the situation. She would have never let Dov, or Chris, or Andy, or Nick, or Chloe talk about Holly like that; Gail would have cut them off at the knees and enjoyed doing it, if they had spoken one ill word about her girl.

"Ugh, my girl," Gail moaned again and turned over on her side to face the window. Darkness still controlled outside, and loneliness still controlled Gail like a depraved puppet master. "I want her back," she whispered into her pillow humbly. She wiped her eye, feeling unchecked tears escape her crystal blue eyes.

"Why hadn't it worked?" Gail wondered out loud to herself, moving to lay flat on her back again. She had intentions of pretending that nothing was wrong…they could just glaze over this, Gail figured. They could pretend like that meet and greet with Holly's bitchy friends had never happened, and they could go back to the day when the only thing that separated them was a pile of cold, wet clothes. Gail would give anything to go back to that night. The night when she was worried about her friends, but at the same time, being cared for by Holly. She had been so tender and understanding and just present; Gail knew she couldn't help but fall for her. Holly's lips had been tender and patient under the ice cold water of the shower, washing away any doubts and fears about her friends and what would happen to them. She had even distracted Gail from the chop session she had done on her own hair. "_Still kinda beautiful,"_ Holly had whispered sweetly before kissing Gail and gently lifting her to her feet. And then the cold water came, and although Gail didn't know if she could tolerate the ice cold liquid on her back for long, the warm presence of Holly's lips made it worth the effort.

_"__What am I going to do for clothes?"_ Gail had smiled when she and Holly finally stopped kissing and turned the water off.

Holly raised an eyebrow and laughed. _"You can borrow mine…if it's not too much plaid for you,"_ she teased. She had brought Gail clothes and changed herself into something dry; a pair of plaid shorts and a white tee shirt, just to tease Gail. They had reconvened in Holly's bedroom; the same slow, smooth, tender kisses as before. When Gail deepened the kisses, pushing Holly back onto her bed, Holly pulled back.

_"__You don't want me?"_ Gail asked weakly. Her hand went directly to her newly shortened hair and her blue eyes clouded with doubt.

_"__Gail, of course I do,"_ Holly had corrected her. _"But not like this…not with your sadness, or you worrying about your friends. Trust me, I want you…"_

_"__I do trust you…"_ Gail had confirmed.

"Jesus! Why does it hurt so bad!" Gail yelled in a hushed whisper. She couldn't lie here, thinking about Holly or the way she smelled, or the way she fits perfectly in her arms at night. Gail rolled over and picked up her phone again. 4:09 in the morning and there was really no chance she was going back to sleep. She sat up for a moment, cursing the way her body ached from lack of sleep, and how the thought of Holly had dire effects on ego and libido. Gail wonder for a moment if Holly thought about her in the wee hours of the morning. No…she was with someone else…in someone else bed…putting her lips on…someone else.

"Shit…" Gail wiped her eyes again and took a deep breath in. "I'm going to the precinct," she decided.

* * *

"I'm sorry I've kept you awake all night, Holly," Traci said pouting a little at the forensic pathologist. "I brought you coffee though," she offered a smile and a cup of coffee.

Holly smiled, and nodded. "It's no problem, Traci. I wasn't doing anything specifically exciting tonight…so…"

Traci didn't need to respond, the entire division knew that Gail and Holly weren't together anymore and neither of them was doing particularly well. Holly had the luxury of hiding it a bit better, but she still felt like hell about the breakup. Seeing Gail a few days back hadn't helped. She had apologized, Gail Peck, Officer Smart Ass had actually apologized to her. And even more, she had told Holly she wanted to be with her…not in those exact words, but this was the gist. It had taken all of Holly's composure not to fall back in Gail's arms; but she hadn't. There was no way Gail could understand how much it hurt the night she walked out of the Penny and left her alone. There she was, with her friends, trying to explain why Gail didn't trust her enough to hear her out. But it wasn't all of Gail's fault…not in the least. And that's what Holly had wanted to say…all of those calls and messages left, but Gail had dropped her like an inconvenience. She wouldn't respond, and after a while, Holly knew that they were over. That's why the thumb, Gail and Izzy at the morgue and Gail trying to glaze over the entire incident was such a shock for Holly.

"So what was this…a heart attack…?" Traci questioned looking at the young man on the slab.

Holly looked at Traci quizzically. "Huh? It's a drug overdose. He had a lot of drugs in his system; more than any boy his size could possibly handle. He died from an overdose."

Traci nodded, her mouth halfway open, digesting the words that Holly was saying to her. "This is a drug overdose?"

"Third one I've seen this week. Where did you find him?"

"Clarence Street, near the old bakery warehouses…oh hell…where the Brixton gang hangs out. Dammit, I need to call Steve."

"Gang related?" Holly questioned.

"It's beginning to look that way…" Traci murmured. "Thanks Holly," she said pulling out her cell phone and heading towards the exit.

* * *

"What are you doing up this early?" Steve Peck asked his sister. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and was rubbing his eyes aggressively with the other.

"Ugh, you look like hell," Gail said in her signature snarky tone. "Not talking to Traci is doing a number on you, isn't it?" she tried not to sound sympathetic, although she was a bit worried about Steve. He and Traci had fallen out over Dex, Traci's ex-husband, and although Gail saw both sides of the argument, it would have been wrong not to agree with Traci. She couldn't let the father of her son get carted off to jail and although Steve didn't realize that now, he would eventually. He was just being a pain in the ass holding out this long.

"I look like hell…you look like hell…" Steve countered, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Listen Steven," Gail began abruptly. "Get away from my desk…I would like to do my paperwork in peace."

Steve reached over and ruffled the papers on Gail's desk before standing up. "It's not my fault you blew things up with Holly and now you can't sleep."

"How do you know it was my fault," Gaily countered throwing the top of a pen at her brother.

"Because even as a little girl, guilt kept you awake," Steve stuck his tongue out at his sister. "Why can't you just apologize and beg for forgiveness. Maybe Holly will take pity on you…"

"Listen jackass," Gail began standing and leaning off the side of her desk, "before you give advice, take it for yourself, because big brother you are getting old and you are running the risk of dying all alone because you can't swallow your pride and admit you are wrong…"

"Ditto for you, little sister," Steve turned around and almost bumped right into Traci.

"Hey I was looking for you," Traci said breathlessly.

"Oh were you?" Steve said his ego swelling a bit with Traci's breathless admission. "Well I mi…"

"I think I have a case for the Guns and Gangs unit," she began before Steve could even finish. "The guy that was found last night…Holly…" she said while moving towards her desk. Steven followed, but all Gail could hear was Holly's name.

"Even at work," she sighed, knowing it was futile to be upset at hearing Holly's name when it made her so happy still. Plus, they practically worked together, so she was inescapable. So inescapable that she was heading down the hallway towards Traci and Steve now. "I should have stayed at home in bed," Gail mumbled to herself.

"You're here early," Holly stopped beside Gail's desk.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Gail shook her head in exasperation. "I couldn't sleep…" she admitted softly after a moment. "And I might as well be productive if I'm going to be awake. Why are you awake this early?" For a slim second, Gail wanted Holly to say, "_Because I was thinking about you…"_ but instead, Holly said …

"Traci needed my help on a case…" she held up the folders that were in her arms.

"She's over there…" Gail pointed to Traci and Steve, who were huddled at Traci's desk.

Holly looked over and nodded, too embarrass to tell Gail that as soon as she had seen her, she could no longer focus on the case at hand. "Yeah, thanks," she managed. She turned to walk away, but stopped, "Is this your regular day to work?"

Gail shook her head softly, "No…I was awake…"

Holly nodded her understanding and began walking again. It still hurt the same as far as Gail was concerned, because it was Holly walking away from her again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N : Just a couple of things...first I am no scientist, if the science seems a little muddy, it's because it is ALL MADE UP :) Secondly, I am responsible for all mistakes...and third; I own nothing :) Please enjoy and comment and review if you'd like to! :) **

Past Memories and Present Mysteries

_Flashback_

"Good morning sleepy head," Holly had said lovingly. She was already downstairs, lounging on the couch and reading her morning paper by the time Gail made it down. It had been two weeks since the horrific ordeal at Division 15 and although Gail never thought she would particularly feel "normal" again, being with Holly helped lighten the burden. It was her seventh day in Holly's bed, not that she was counting and Gail had to admit, each day waking up beside her felt a little better than the first. Was this how things were supposed to work; relationships, that is…feeling better and better daily, instead of the compounding intensity of regret and fear of what was going to happen next. "Do you want breakfast?" Holly asked, closing the paper and finally making eye contact with Gail. She couldn't help allowing a broad smile to spread across her face just looking into those gorgeous blue eyes.

"Breakfast?" Gail said sleepily. She had only awaken because Holly was not by her side when she turned over. It was Saturday, and it was a primary no-no to remove herself from bed before noon if she had a Saturday off like today. She rubbed her crystal blue eyes and made her way over to the couch that Holly lounged on. "I'm not a breakfast person."

"That's because you are never really awake early enough for it," Holly reminded her, kissing her softly on the lip. God, she loved the feel of Gail's mouth against hers. "Tell me you are not hungry after the night you had…"

Gail pouted a moment, thinking of drink after drink she had thrown back in honor of being off for an entire weekend. She was going to spend time with her girl and relax, and that deserved a couple of boilermakers and bourbon shots to celebrate. "Actually, you are right, I'm kinda starving…" Gail admitted. "But NO ONE has ever made me breakfast before …unless you can't Nick's horrible attempt before we broke up."

"Well then…let me make you breakfast," Holly said leaning in for another kiss.

"Have you ever thought that maybe you are spoiling me?" Gail asked taking Holly's place on the couch when she stood up and headed to the kitchen. "I mean, I haven't been home all week."

"Do you want to go home?" Holly said peeking her head around the corner.

"Did I say I wanted to go home?" Gail laughed. "I'm just saying…"

"That we are a couple and you are uncomfortable? We don't have to label it Gail," Holly yelled from the other room. Gail frowned because Holly knew that's not what she meant either.

"You know that's not what I mean," Gail said sitting up and heading into the kitchen. She watched as Holly mixed the ingredients together for either pancakes or waffles. "Waffles?"

"Yeah," Holly smiled sincerely. "You paint me in a box when you are allergic to tomatoes and hate eggs…" she laughed. "So waffles it is …unless you prefer pancakes." Gail watched her closely, wondering how Holly could remember that after a couple of months of knowing her, but Nick had screwed it up after knowing her a couple of years. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Holly laughed.

Gail smirked…"No reason…" she turned on the barstool and faced the wall for a bit. "Do you love me, Holly?"

"Is that a trick question" Holly asked adding some nutmeg to her batter. Gail spun back around and shrugged her shoulders. "Do you love me?"

"I don't know," Gail frowned. She really didn't know … but in reality she had never felt this way before.

"I guess that's a safe answer for us both," Holly said pouring the batter on a hot waffle iron.

* * *

_Present Day_

"What are you thinking about?" Steve questioned as he once again leaned on her desk. Gail cringed, not really wanting to share with her big brother. How in the hell could she explain what had happened between her and Holly? "I'm guessing it's Holly since your eyes haven't really moved from her since she started talking to Traci.

"How do you do it? Being around Traci and knowing you screwed it up with her for good?"

"I did not screw up with Traci for good…we had a disagreement; however you blew up what you and Holly had over nothing. What is she…seeing someone else, just plain moved on?"

"Shut up Steve…" Gail began her attack on her brother, but was stopped by Holly and Traci's approaching.

"I recieved a call from the morgue…a new body has been found…I have to get back to the morgue," Holly informed Steve. She tried her best not to make eye contact with Gail, but without fail, their two sets of eyes met.

"Well, do you need help…Gail can go with you…actually, I would feel a little better if she did if it is about this case…Gail…" Steven suggested. He was trying to be helpful, but this was not helpful. Being thrown into the room with the person she doesn't want to be with right now was torture.

Holly looked at Gail and gauged her reaction. "No…I could go at it alone…"

"No…I'll go back to the morgue with you to check this out," Gail offered. "It's fine…"

"I don't want to put you out, Gail," Holly said honestly.

"You aren't putting me out…I wanna go," Gail admitted, although she wished she hadn't. It was funny with Holly…Gail managed to do everything she wished she hadn't, but to see Holly smile, like she did just then, Gail knew she would do anything.

"Good then…Traci and I will go to the warehouse …see if there is anything out of the ordinary there. We'll come back in about ninety minutes… reconvene?" Steve said heading back towards the room where Traci was organizing the photos.

"So …what is at the morgue?" Gail asked Holly for specifics as they headed to her cop car.

"I'm not sure…Dr. Robertson just said it's something I needed to see…which I'm guessing has something to do with the case," Holly explained. "This is not an easy case…I can't figure out how drugs got into the bodies without needle wounds."

"Did you check toes, behind knee caps…everywhere?" Gail asked offering suggestions as they hopped into her car.

"Yeah…nothing. It's like the drugs just appeared in their body and they forgot to breath," Holly explained the heroin induced deaths. "I don't know what it is, Gail…it makes me feel uncomfortable not knowing."

"You're an amazing forensic pathologist; you'll figure it out, Holly," Gail encouraged.

"Thanks for being nice…"

Gail's heart hurt just hearing those words. She wasn't being nice; she was being honest, but she could be nice to Holly. As a matter of fact, Holly was the first person she was positive she could be completely nice, honest, and open with in her entire life and somehow she had screwed that up.

"Gail…" Holly began.

"Don't…don't try to make me feel better about you dating someone else," Gail warned. "Let's just …pretend to be friends…we were very good at being friends and it didn't make me feel like I wanted to jump off of a building."

"I don't want you to feel like you want to jump off of a building, Gail," Holly said honestly. "I just needed to know that you were there…and you weren't there…"

"I just needed to know that you didn't think I was shit…and you didn't," Gail retorted quickly, pulling into a parking space in front of the coroner's office.

"Gail," Holly said placing her hand over Gail's, which was on the gearshift. "You know I didn't feel that way…"

"I obviously didn't," Gail said pulling back slightly. "Come on…let's figure out what's so important in the morgue," she said fortifying her defenses again.

* * *

_Flashback_

"Would it matter if I loved you?" Holly asked, feeding Gail the last bit of waffle from the plate in front of them. "I mean, would it change anything?" Gail shrugged, enjoying the waffles her girlfriend had made for her. When she noticed Holly was pouting, she leaned over and kissed her tenderly leaving maple syrup on her lips.

"Are we going to define everything today?" Gail asked somewhat annoyed.

"Honey, don't get angry," Holly smiled. "I just kinda want you to meet my friends…"

"Your friends?" Gail cocked a perfectly arched eyebrow. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head and let her borrowed tee shirt ride up above her belly button. "Nerds like you have friends?" she teased. "And what are these friends like?"

Holly smiled despite herself. "They are like …me I suppose."

"Smart, sexy and fun?" Gail said absently, trying not to let on that she felt every words intensely. As far as she was concerned, Holly was the perfect woman. She was extremely smart, fun to be around and oh so damn sexy. Holly pulled her into a passionate kiss before Gail could say more.

"I hate meeting friends," Gail admitted after they had pulled apart. She saw the disappointment in Holly's eyes and took a deep breath. "When…when were you thinking about having me meet them?"

"Anytime you are ready," Holly said running her hand through her hair. "I've told them so much about you …they are becoming curious…like you are a figment of my imagination."

"I highly doubt I am what you imagined your perfect girlfriend to be," Gail said hopping down from the barstool. She took the dishes to the sink and leaned against it.

"No…it's no problem; don't worry about it," Holly said playing with her glasses. Gail rolled her eyes, but shuffled over towards her girlfriend.

She wrapped her arms around Holly and pulled her down in a slow and thorough kiss. "I guess I'll do anything for my girlfriend," she laughed giddily.

* * *

_Present Time_

Gail watched Holly looking over the new case files that she found waiting for her when they reached her office. She had said too much…had let too much of her emotions show, but thankfully Holly hadn't called her on it. Just a few weeks ago, they had been together, working together to be happy, but now…

"What is it, Hol?" Gail questioned, trying not to be too anxious about Holly's attention. For a while it was okay to be silent in the lab, but since she and Holly were no longer together, if now felt foreign.

"A kid came in last night that Dr. Robertson processed," Holly explained, "tox screen came back and she had a lot of heroin in her blood stream."

"A kid?" Gail shifted uncomfortable. She really couldn't take another kid case right now.

"Yeah…between the ages of 12 and 16, but no signs of injection and no drugs found in the nasal cavity or oral cavities," she handed Gail a photo. "Just this was found in her lower esophagus."

"What is this?" Gail asked. Holly took a magnified and looked at another picture. "Wait…hold on, I've seen this before," Gail said going over to Holly's bookshelf and looking at her journals. It was a journal that was orange…orange and black, if she remember correctly. Gail searched for a while and pulled a journal off of the shelf. She opened it and flipped through the pages until she stopped on an article about a Toronto scientist. "Is that the same thing?" she asked Holly handing her the journal.

Holly looked at the picture and back to the journal article. "I think it is," she said, having to admit she was impressed with Gail's depth of memory. "What is this?"

"I have no idea," Gail shrugged. "I was looking through this journal when I was waiting for you one night…. I don't know Holly…let's just read the article and figure out what the hell this is…and why it was found lodge in a twelve year olds' throat." She hated the fact that Holly was surprised that she could actually read and remember an article.

"An islet capsule," Holly murmured reading the article quickly. "What does a Toronto teenager, an islet capsule and a bunch of drug flushed bodies have in common?"

"Erica Jade…." Gail said pulling up the girl's social media page on her phone. "When are kids going to learn to stop putting their business on-line? She lives right here in Toronto. I'm going to talk to her," Gail said ready to leave the room.

"Hold on…I'm going with you…" Holly said following closely behind her.

* * *

"So how is Dexter?" Steve asked sarcastically. He and Traci were sitting in front of the warehouse where the Brixton crew hung out. There was nothing out of the ordinary going on, at least to the naked eye and the silence between he and Traci was palpable.

"Steve, don't…" Traci began.

"What… I'm just trying to break the ice," Steve said with heavy frustration.

"No, you want to stir the pot; make me feel bad for protecting the father of my child. Leo needs Dex, Steve. It's hard enough being raised by a single parent and getting Jerry ripped away from him was terrible. But now, he's missing you and if it were left up to you, he would be missing his father too. I'm not protecting Dex because I love, but because Leo needs him."

"One day you are going to have to let that guy sink or swim on his own, Traci. You can't protect Dex forever," he responded solemnly. Never mind the fact that her protection of the bastard made Steve physical ill; he genuinely hated the fact that she still seemed to care, also. Even though Dex was going to try and take Leo away from her, or the fact that he was just an overall dead beat…Traci still saw it in her heart to tolerate him.

"Don't confuse what I feel for Dex, Steve. And either way, you were in the wrong. Throwing our weight around as cops couldn't be a worse abuse of power," she said looking through the binoculars again. "Wait…what's that?" Traci asked passing over the binoculars to Steve.

He put them up to his face and sighed. "Doesn't look like anything," he said after a while. "Look, we could be here all day and see nothing. Everything looks pretty normal."

"Yes, besides the fact that two people were found outside of here?"

"We could be wasting our time…it could have been simple drug overdose, Traci."

"If you didn't think there was a case, then why are you here Steve?" Traci questioned becoming a bit annoyed.

Steve smiled at the fact that his ringing phone was going to prevent him from answering that question. "Peck speaking," he answered smoothly.

"Steve, Holly and I think we have a lead on the overdose cases," Gail began without preamble. "The third person who died had a device lodged in her throat. We've traced it back to someone local."

"What do you mean a device?" Steve asked obviously confused.

"An islet capsule…I don't know what it is, but Holly seems excited about it…anyways can you find out some information on an Erica Jade…maybe get a warrant to search her place if this doesn't go well?"

"Why can't you do that?" Steve questioned.

"Because I'm going to find her now," Gail said before hanging up.

Steve took a deep breath and started the car. "We're headed back to the station…Gail and Holly have a lead…"


	3. Chapter 3

Heartbreaks

Kiana Reyes sat in Division 15 station trying to hold back more tears. "What do you mean?" she looked from Steve to Traci and then back again. "She was supposed to be staying with a friend," she said, this time letting the tears spill from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry you had to find out this way," Traci soothed moving in front of the woman and kneeling down in front of her. Kiana Reyes was about twenty-three years old and looked a lot like the little girl that had been processed through the morgue earlier that morning. Traci couldn't imagine what it felt like to find out that someone she loved had died, and by the cops.

"What happened to her?" Kiana Reye questioned, barely able to speak.

"It's a little blurry right now, but dental records confirmed that it is your little sister, Nina Reyes," Steve said sadly. He had just finished looking at the results of the autopsy and he didn't have the heart to tell the woman that her little sister had died of a drug overdose. "Who was Nina staying with, exactly?"

Kiana looked at him with a blank face. She couldn't formulate words as the emotions of her little sister being gone washed over her again. "It's okay," Traci cooed, "I'll get you some water," she offered standing up and heading off.

"Just some of her friends from school…she was sad because our other sister was gone for a couple of days," Kiana answered eventually.

"You have another sister?" Steve asked.

"Yeah…but she's in college …she's fourteen, almost fifteen…science genius they say…" Kiana rambled.

"Is her name, Erica Jade?" Traci said reappearing and handing the woman a bottle of water.

"Yeah…everyone just calls her Jade though. She was in a science fair in the US so she's just getting back. Traci and Steve exchanged glances, which wasn't lost on Kiana. "What…what is it? Is something going on with Jade too?" her voice trembled with fear.

"No…" Traci assured her. "Do have any idea where Jade may be?"

"If she's not home…she's probably at that damn college. She spends all her time in the lab there…" Traci nodded and excused herself. She dialed Gail's number quickly and was rewarded with the officer picking up on the first ring.

"Peck speaking…"

"Any luck with Erica Jade, because her sister, Kiana Reyes is down at the station, Traci explained.

"No…Hols and I stopped by the address attached to her Facebook but no go," Gail answered.

"Well, her sister said she spends a lot of time at the college, in the lab," Traci informed the cop.

Gail peered over at Holly, who had been quietly looking out the window. "Well good, I have the perfect nerd for a college lab adventure," Gail sighed. "Thanks for the lead though."

"Can you bring the little sister down to the station when you find her?"

"Like arrest her?" Traci could hear the excitement in Gail's voice.

"No, do not arrest the kid. She's like fifteen," Traci put the brakes on Gail's excitement.

"You are no fun, Traci…no fun at all," Gail laughed, pressing the end button.

* * *

"I get to arrest a teenager," Gail announced, ignoring all of Traci's words. "I think I'm going to handcuff her…it'll make me feel better," she said taking the exit to head towards the college.

"For some reason I doubt Traci told you to address a teenager," Holly couldn't help but smile. Something about Gail always made her smile, but right now, even more so. "Where are we going?"

"The college…science lab, so you should feel right at home, nerd."

"Why do you assume I like everything science?

"Because you do," Gail said confidently. "I know you…"

Holly cocked her head to the side. "But you didn't know how much it would hurt me for you not to answer my calls or texts?"

Gail shrugged. "Foolish miscalculation on how adorable I am…" she pulled the car into a parking space in front of the science building at the college and killed the engine. She opened her door to step out.

"You are adorable," Holly smiled.

"So adorable you decided to date other women?" Gail questioned opening the door and waiting for Holly to enter. "Lead the way, please, I have no idea where labs are in this building."

"And you assume I do?" Holly laughed. "And it wasn't planned…"

"But the best way to stick it to me is by dating someone else?" Gail finished her thought. "Oh it worked…oh so well," Gail nodded. "I feel like hell."

"Gail," Holly said putting her hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't like that…"

Gail ignored the gesture. "Hey…kid, do you know Erica Jade…" the guy nodded. "Where is she?"

"Lab 24 at the end of the hall," he pointed down the hall.

Gail and Holly walked in silence, and Holly couldn't explain to herself why it hurt so much that Gail still chose not to hear her out.

Erica Jade wasn't difficult to find in the tiny lab at the end of the hall. She was the only student there, working quietly, mixing chemicals together. "Are you Erica Jade?" Gail asked loudly.

Erica Jade rolled over to a microscope and looked through it. "Just Jade," the girl looked up, "Ms. Reyes if you're nasty," she laughed at her own joke.

"You are very small," Gail said looking at the girl with a critical eye. The girl was dark-skinned with long black hair and a pair of splash googles over another pair of glasses. She couldn't have been more than four foot eight and less than hundred pounds wet.

Erica Jade looked up from her microscope and smiled. "I usually get, 'you're very smart,' but okay let's start here. How may I help you officers?"

"I'm not an officer," Holly shook her head.

"But I'm guessing the one with holstered gun and bulletproof vest is…" Jade said returning to her microscope. "What can I do for you officer?"

"I need you to come down to the police station…" Gail jumped right in.

"My solution is just setting," Jade said unphazed by Gail's words.

"What kind of solution?" Holly asked curiously. She walked over to where Jade was looking through her microscope.

"You are gonna need glasses to be this close," Jade warned. "And I am making a semi-permeable vessel…"

"Like your islet vessel?" Holly asked stepping back a bit.

Jade smiled at the recognition of her work. "You're familiar with my work."

"Yeah…we think it's being used to commit crimes," Gail said sarcastically.

Jade frowned and scooted back from the lab table. "I'm sorry…"

"We need you to come down to the station, we have some questions for you about your work…" Holly said pleasantly.

"And you can't ask them here?" Jade questioned.

"It would be a lot easier if you come down to the station," Gail said a bit more forcefully than Holly did.

Jade removed her googles. "Okay…can I put this up and grab something out of the fridge over there?" she carefully moved her experiment over to the fridge and pulled out a small black pouch.

"What is that?" Gail asked curiously.

"You're a diabetic…" Holly ascertained. It was all beginning to make sense. "That's why you are doing islet experiments. You are a type one diabetic."

"Yes…since I was like six."

"Well, three years ain't that long…what are you…nine, ten?" Gail joked, although she truly felt bad for the teenager.

Jade let the comment roll off of her back. "I'm ready when you are ladies."

When they made it outside, Jade turned to Gail and Holly frowning. "Am I gonna have to ride in the back of a cop car?"

"Definitely," Gail said opening the back door of the cop car.

* * *

"What about your sister?" Alex asked pacing back and forth nervously. "Jade could be a big problem…we are using her shit…"

"Hey…she's a kid, no one is going to listen to her," Kiana spoke firmly reapplying her make-up. The impromptu crying session had ruined all of her make-up from this morning; yet it seemed to have worked. The cops had consoled her and let her loose after they told her about Nina's death. She had played her part well, crying on cue and convincing them that Nina was at a friend's house for the weekend. How in the world could she have possibly gotten drugs? Kiana's face said; but her brain just prayed that they hadn't already linked the girl to the other two bodies that had overdosed. Shit! This was supposed to be easier; using her sister's experiment to turn people into drug mules; but Jade's experiment was flawed and beginning to really screw up her plans. "Plus, Jade was out of town; she doesn't know shit and if she did, she would look guilty as hell! It's her experiment at the center of this."

"I don't know Kiana," Alex said still nervous. "Maybe we should just stop…"

Kiana slammed her hand down on the table. Never in her life would she have believed that a lifetime gang member would be so damn weak! His job was moving heroin for a living and he obviously sucked. But what made him even more repugnant was the fact that he was a chicken-shit on top of being terrible at his job. She had provided him the method and he still didn't have the balls to make this work! "Alex, get it together! The cops don't know anything and they aren't looking at us…so calm down and be a damn man!"

"What if they do suspect it's Jade and arrest her…she's going to snitch on the gang in twenty seconds flat. She hates us!"

"She's not stupid…she knows better…" Kiana began, but was interrupted by a pounding on the door. "What is it?"

"JR was down near the college, said a cop picked up Erica Jade a little while ago…" the guy said out of breath from running.

"Shit! This is already falling apart!" Alex yelled.

"Shut up," Kiana said grabbing her coat from the back of the couch. "I'm going to get her now."

"Won't that look strange?" Alex questioned. Now he was sure he was going to be sick. Being a foot soldier was one thing, but catapulting to the lead of a section of his gang was a lot different. If it wasn't for Kiana directing him, he wouldn't know what to do; but this situation looked to threaten what they were building. Three dead bodies and now the cops sniffing around…he was sick just thinking about it.

"Hey, I'm going to bring her back here," she kissed Alex quickly. "Don't worry about it."

* * *

"If you tell me what you want to know, perhaps I can just tell you…" Jade suggested sitting across the desk from Gail. Holly had momentarily went back to the lab to gather some things, so it was just Gail and Jade now, sizing each other up.

"You are very annoying," Gail said looking at the girl. She was unfortunately lost in her thoughts of Holly when the girl interrupted her concentration.

"I'm annoying? I was minding my business in the lab when you picked me up…and for what…I'm still not sure…" Jade mused. "I highly doubt you are the type to want to know about islet capsules."

"And what does that mean?" Gail asked immediately offended. "What, I'm too stupid to care about islet capsules?"

"I didn't mean that at all," the girl frowned. "I mean, the only people that worry about islet are diabetics normally. You have to be smart to be a cop…to cut through all the bull."

"How often do you test?" Gail asked calming herself a bit. Since she and Holly had broken up she was super sensitive for some reason.

"Before every meal and I try to have a meal every three hours or so...my glucose levels are always a bit erratic, so it's best to check often. Better safe than sorry."

"So how does your experiment work?"

"The device? It's supposed to produce islet cells, to be released into the blood stream. I'm on design three right now. The capsule is becoming more stable…able to hold more and more."

"So what …do you just swallow it?"

"No…the acids in the stomach and intestines will destroy the capsules. They will have to be implanted. Did you really bring me down to the station to talk about my islet device? When you said my devices were used to commit crimes earlier…what did you mean?"

"When did you start babysitting Peck?" Nick questioned. Everyone was just getting out of parade and filing by for their job assignments for the day.

"Do I look like I need a babysitter?" Jade countered quickly. Gail couldn't help but smile, loving the fact that it didn't seem like Jade took any shit from anyone either.

"Wow…just asking," Nick said holding his hands up. "And I thought you were off today."

"Well sleepless nights make me do interesting things," Gail admitted, knowing Nick knew exactly what she meant.

"You must really miss her…" Nick began but stopped cold when he saw the threatening look Gail was giving him. "Have a good day, Peck," he said grabbing something off of his desk and heading in the opposite direction.

"Can I go to a vending machine and get a snack…I have to…" Jade said interrupting the glare Gail was giving Nick.

"Sure…" Gail returned her attention to the girl. "You wanna follow me…" she said standing and leading the girl up the stairs and pass the open war-rooms.

"Hey…wait…what is my sister doing on that board," Jade stopped in front of one of the doors. It was where Traci and Steve had set up the evidence for the Guns and Gangs case. She turned to Gail, searching for answers. "Gail…"

"She's your sister?" Gail mumbled knowing that she had screwed up letting the girl see this room.

Jade nodded slowly, unfortunately knowing exactly what this meant. Her knees felt weak and her stomach began churning. "Yeah, that's my little sister," she said weakly. "Gail…why is she on the board?" but she closed her eyes before Gail could answer, to stop the new flow of tears that were building up. "What happened to my little sister?" her voice quaked a little.

"Jade!" Kiana Reyes called from the floor. "Jade..." her voice was softer this time. "I've been looking everywhere for you. We need to talk…"

"What happened to Nina?" Jade questioned immediately. The tears were running unchecked now and it almost physically hurt Gail to see the girl.

"Let's go home and talk about this…" Kiana suggested as patiently as she could manage. They were in the middle of a police station and the look on Jade's face told Kiana that she was blaming her. She had to shut her sister up quickly. "Come on Jade," she urged again. "Let's go home."

Gail looked from Kiana to Jade, "I can drop her off a little later," she suggested humbly. There had to be a better way for a teenager to find out that their sibling had died and this wasn't it.

"No," Kiana said sharply. "Jade, we are going now," her voice was low and a bit threatening.

"You don't have to go," Gail offered, but Jade knew better. She had seen this look on her sister's face before and knew that she meant business.

"We should be together as a family," Kiana said. Jade reluctantly went towards her sister and as they disappeared out of the door, Gail had the strange feeling that everything was not okay.

* * *

"That family is devastated," Traci said handing Gail a mug of coffee. It was just now eleven in the morning and this case wasn't getting any easier. "Kiana thought her sister was at friend's house."

"What friend?" Gail questioned. She took a sip of her coffee, and wished she had just stayed in bed instead of being thrown into this hell case. Three people dead, one a kid and the look on Jade's face would haunt her for a while. "The look on Jade's face…"

"You mean our only real suspect that you let leave with her sister?" Steve questioned rolling his eyes. "Gail…"

"Shut up, Steve…there is no way that kid knew anything about how her sister got drugs into her system. You should have seen her face…she was in shock."

"Shocked that you are crazy enough to let her go…"

"Hey, you two …come on…this helps no one," Traci warned. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we know how the drugs got into the body. Jade said that if her devices were swallowed, the acid in the stomach would dissolve the vessel. Knowing that, she wouldn't let anyone swallow the device. She would likely shove them up their…"

"Okay, we get the point, Peck," Traci said shaking her head. "We still have three dead bodies. Gail, do you think you can head back over and talk to the kid?"

"I can, but the kid is not the problem," Gail said firmly. "She's not involved…what about the oldest sister?"

"She sat in front of us and cried like a baby. She thought her sister was at a friend's house," Steve said again. "It's a dead end…we may just have to let this case drop…"

"Steve…" Gail began.

"No…we have nothing..."

"But dead bodies piling up," Gail finished for her brother.

"Gail, just go home…it's your day off anyways."

* * *

Holly saw Gail out of the corner of her eye, "What are you doing down here?" Holly questioned. "I was going to head back to the station in a bit."

"Steve has called off the resources for the case," Gail let her know sadly. "I screwed up, Holly. Jade saw her little sister on the board and I don't know…it all just fell apart. I should have never let her see that," Gail plopped down on a metal stool and buried her head in her hands for a moment. "Everything I touch just crumbles lately."

"Hey…that's not true," Holly soothed walking over to stand in front of Gail. She wanted to hug her, at least touch her, but she couldn't. They weren't those people anymore; the type of people that comforted each other with hugs and kisses. She could only use her words. "Gail, it's not your fault this happened."

"Yeah, but it's my fault a fifteen year old found out her sister was dead by a beat cop," Gail sighed, closing her eyes, trying not to cry. "It feels terrible, being this inadequate, Holly."

"You are not inadequate, Gail," Holly said empathetically. "You are such a good cop," Holly said moving her hand around the slab as not to touch Gail.

Gail saw her fidgeting and sighed. "You can touch me, Holly," she offered slowly. It was one of the things she missed the most about not being with Holly.

"If I touch you…I'm not going to want to stop, Gail, and we were doing so well today…just being friends," Holly explained softly.

"I don't want to just be your friend, Holly," Gail said sadly. Before she could say anything else, she could feel Holly's perfect lips on hers. She didn't move away, but deepened the kiss by pulling Holly closer. When they finally pulled apart, Holly sighed.

"I'm sorry," she frowned. "I couldn't help it…I miss you…but…"

"I'm immature and a jerk…" Gail said softly. She leaned in and kissed Holly again, missing the feel of her lips after just a few seconds apart. Holly didn't pull back, which was encouraging, but made it even more confusing when Gail pulled away. "You're dating someone else…" it was a reckless and painful remembrance that Holly wasn't hers.

"A few dates…it's nothing serious," Holly shrugged.

"Then why did you make it out to be," Gail asked hurt.

Holly cupped her face softly "You have no idea how bad I felt not hearing from you for weeks…"

"It was torture for me too…" Gail said knowing that it wasn't enough.

"It's not the same…you walked out and didn't care, Gail. I'm still not over that…"

Gail looked away, not wanting Holly to see the tears welding up in her blue eyes. "Okay…I'm going to go, then." She stood and headed out of the door, praying that Holly would stop her…but she had no such luck.


	4. Chapter 4

Family Ties

So there Erica Jade sat, looking over her sister's shoulder to the place where the portrait of all three sisters sat on the fireplace. It was one of those family pictures that made everyone look like they could actually stand the sight of each other, but in reality, they were all squirming and wishing they were elsewhere at that moment. Jade could distinctly remember not wanting to take the picture; both of her sisters were getting on her nerves that day and she should have been in the lab instead of pretending to be happy with them. Her eyes settled on Nina, who at thirteen was just beginning to NOT like being around her sisters. Up until age thirteen, Jade couldn't have shaken Nina if she had tried. They were practically tied at the hip even though they were two years apart in age. But a couple of months back, Nina had traded in admiration for Jade and turned it into a dangerous obsession to be around Kiana.

"You killed her," Jade said weakly. She still hadn't cried; she had no intention of giving Kiana the satisfaction of seeing how desperately she hated her for Nina's death.

"Why would you assume that?" Kiana asked dryly, not even blinking at the accusation from her little sister. "Nina was in an accident…"

"What kind of accident?" Jade questioned immediately.

"The kind that you die from I supposed," Kiana said still looking her sister directly in the eyes. She knew that more than anything, Jade wanted to believe her, even trust her; but the fact that she had entangled herself with known gang members made trust impossible for Jade. "What happened to Nina was not my fault…I'm just as upset as you are, Jade."

Jade smirked. "Whatever," she stood and was ready to leave before Kiana grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Out," Jade jerked back her wrist. "Does that bother you all of a sudden?"

"We should be processing this as a family," Kiana offered after a few seconds passed between them.

"We're not family…we are stuck with each other until I move far far away…"

Kiana stared at her sister, but refused to let this comment upset her. "Why were you at the police station?" she questioned as if she didn't already know.

"They picked me up from the lab…something about my experiments being used for evil…" Jade shrugged as if this wasn't something unusual.

"You weren't thinking about telling them anything were you, Jade?"

"What could I possibly tell the cops?" Jade managed to smile innocently. "I don't know anything."

"Well…they say ignorance is B-L-I-S-S, Jade." The statement sounded more like a warning than anything else. Kiana stood up too and walked in front of Jade. "I'll expect you home tonight…"

"You're actually going to leave here? You practically live with Alex now…"

"I'll be home tonight, Jade. And you better be there too…" Kiana repeated this time a bit more firmly.

"Your wish is my command," Jade said flippantly.

"Listen…don't test me, Jade." Kiana outright warned this time. "You want to stay blissful, don't you…" she kissed her sister on the forehead and patted her on the back.

"What if I do?" Jade couldn't help poking the bear that was her sister.

Kiana laughed without any real humor. "Jade, if I am as horrible as you think I am … let's just say, I actually loved Nina…what do you think will happen to you?" she headed to the front door and opened it for Jade. As Jade passed Kiana, she knew that her time of actually being safe around her sister was very limited. Kiana waited until Jade was outside and the door was closed behind her before making a phone call. "Yeah Alex…send whoever…I don't trust my sister to keep her mouth shut. Tell them to do their worse…but keep her alive. She can make this thing work."

* * *

Erica Jade's bed was hell to sleep on, but at the end of the day, that wasn't really important. Yes, she was probably killing her back at the tender age of 15, but the bed was heavy and clunky and no one would think to move the damn thing to get the floorboards underneath it. Jade held back tears as she tried once again to push the damn thing towards the wall and was stopped by the sheering pain coursing through her ribcage and wrapping around to her back. She tried desperately not to vomit from the pain, and the fact that she was almost positive that her lungs could be filling with fluid.

Her sister had done her in…Kiana Reyes was the only person diabolical enough to call a "mild hit" on her sister, and have her beat up just enough to send a warning. Jade had gotten maybe a mile down the road away from Alex's home before four or five of his gang members confronted her. Her first instincts was to run…she was fast and crafty, but Alex's gang members weren't much on talking. They had almost immediately swung on her, and things had gotten progressive worse from that point. Still, they had stopped, after numerous kicks to the ribs when she was down and one girl who took distinct pleasure in punching her in the face.

So Jade knew what she had to do, which was why she was trying to move the heaviest bed ever. Jade pressed her back against the headboard one last time and got the final push she needed. "Perfect," she sputtered, wishing the pain in her body would subside. She lifted the third board from the wall and pulled out a small Beretta handgun. She pulled out the clip and made sure that it was fully loaded. She wouldn't be jumped again, she decided that moment. She was willing to do… her chain of thought was stopped by a pounding on the door. She stopped for a moment, deciding to put the gun back. It was probably some of Kiana's assholes, and as much as she wanted to shoot a few in the face right now, it would be a bad move at this point.

Jade stood, which took more energy and effort than it should have and almost dragged her body into the living room. "Who is it?" she asked weakly, even though she had pulled one of the kitchen table chairs to the door to stand on to look through the peephole. "Shit," she moaned, seeing the cop from before.

"It's Gail," the cop answered as if she wasn't a cop. Jade pushed the chair back and opened the door with the chain still on the door. She peeked around the door.

"What do you want?" she wanted to sound brash, but it came out as a weak gargled sound.

"Open the door, Jade," Gail implored lightly.

Jade looked at her through the slit in the door for a moment and then backed up to unchain the door. "You are going to get yourself killed in this neighborhood," Jade tried to sound menacing.

"Are you serious?" Gail countered. "This is nicer than my neighborhood," Gail informed her about the middle-class neighborhood Jade lived in. "May I come in?"

"Why?" Jade asked, always suspicious when people were nice to her.

"Jade…" Gail said lightly. "I'm sorry about your sister…"

Jade watched Gail for a moment before opening the door. "Why do you care?"

"Because no one should find out terrible news like that…" Gail said sadly. She couldn't explain how bad she felt about the situation, but she knew how important it was apologize. "Can I come in?" she asked again. Jade nodded her head, and moved to the side this time. "I'm so sorry, Jade," Gail said again. Coming closer to the girl, she paused for a moment, "Jade, what happened to your face?" Gail questioned with a strike of fury racing through her veins.

"Long story…" Jade offered unconvincingly. It wasn't a long story, her sister had set up her up to take an ass whupping, but no matter what, Jade knew better than to tell a cop that.

"Long story?" Gail said, the fury building a little more. Anyone who would touch a kid was trash, even worse than trash actually, and she wouldn't tolerate it. "I have time…"

Jade moved past her and waved her hand…"Doesn't matter," Jade clenched her teeth trying not to cry out in pain. "Can I ask you a question?" Gail nodded yes. "What happened to my sister?"

"I can't answer that Jade," Gail said regrettably. "It's official police business…." Jade plopped down on a nearby chair and Gail came closer to Jade to examine her face. The side of her lip and her right eye and cheek was beginning to swell.

"Tell me who hit you…"

"It's irrelevant… I don't even know their names…" Jade said honestly. She rested her head on the headrest. Jade wanted to tell Gail the truth. She felt like she could trust Gail, but at the same time, she knew better than to cross her sister too much.

"Then why did someone want to hit you?"

"When someone thinks you know something you don't …you become a liability," Jade said absently. Jade touched her eye and realized it was become heavy and closing up. "I need ice," she said standing with a little too much effort. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out a bag of frozen peas. Feeling the weight of her eye closed, a tender disgust with herself began sinking in. She was protecting the assholes who had beat her and played a big part in her little sister's death. She stared at Gail for a moment before saying, "The Brixton Crew…they did this. They think I know something I don't know." It was partly true, because her sister was as much Brixton Crew as her boyfriend at this point. And Kiana had had her beaten because she assumed she knew exactly what happened to Nina and now was poised to tell the cops.

"How do you know the Brixton Crew?"

"My sister is dating Miguel Alexander Ortiz…"

"Who is that?"

"A dude that is in over his head, but my sister would do anything to provide him a solution; even it means trying to transport drugs through my vessels." Jade was a smart kid, perhaps too smart for her own good. "I've been gone for a week …and when I got home my prototypes were missing and today you showed up. I don't believe in coincidences."

"You shouldn't," Gail agreed.

"So should I assume that Nina sold me out? Because she's the only one that knew where I kept them," it was a bitter realization that maybe her sister wasn't just an innocent bystander in all of this either. Pressure was mounting and Nina had been trying more and more ways to impressed Kiana. "Gail, they are going to want me to fix it," she turned and walked down the hall, coming with a black lockbox. "I ran into the same issue…the vessel would release the islets too quickly, which essentially when have been an entirely new problem if implanted. So I made the made my vessels stronger…"

"Strong enough to withstand swallowing?" Gail questioned realizing that Jade had unwittingly fixed the problem that the gang so desperately needed her to.

Jade looked at the content inside the lockbox and then closed it and slide it the side of the table where Gail now stood. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone …I just want…I wanted to do something that matter."

"This is not your fault, Jade. You can't control other people. And you will do something that matters. You have your entire life ahead of you. "

Jade didn't feel the same way Gail did about having her entire life ahead of her, but nodded to appease Gail. "Can you take this somewhere…maybe the police station?"

"What are they?" Gail asked.

"The new ones …and formula. I can't keep them here. They'll do better if you can keep them in somewhere cold …"

"I'll just take them to a friend; she works in the morgue, where they at least have a lab," Gail nodded. Gail folded the box under her arm and headed towards the door, but stopped. "You should just come with me. I'd feel better if you came with me." She didn't want to sound like a worried parent, but if the gang had gotten to Jade before…

"I can't; Kiana is expecting me here tonight and if I'm not here, it'll look suspicious."

Gail stared at the girl for a moment. She would have felt better if Jade had just come with her, but she couldn't insist. "Will your sister protect you?"

Jade dropped the bag of peas on the table. "She can't afford to let anything happen to me," Jade assured Gail, although she wasn't so sure of this fact herself. Gail couldn't help, but to frown. Jade managed to smile. "I have your number Gail…" Gail's eyebrows inched a bit higher. "I'm very resourceful," she reached down in her pocket and pulled out a card. "You keep these on your desk…I didn't know cops had cards. If I need anything…I'll call you first."

"Promise?"

"I swear," Jade said finally taking a seat from the pain being too much. "Just keep them safe please. The combination is 3264128."

"I won't let anything happen to them, promise." Gail took one final look at the girl before heading out of the door and back to the police station.

* * *

"Gail, we don't have anything!" Steve said a bit louder this time. "You want me to arrest someone because some kid says he's in a gang! They are all in a gang! I can't arrest someone when they haven't committed a crime."

"The gang stole her experiment and used it to kill three people," Gail said through gritted teeth. "Why can't you understand that Steve! They are not going to leave her alone…"

"Okay, so she gave you one name…I can't go arrest this guy for nothing."

"Steve…they beat her up…" Gail said almost pleading. "Do this one thing for me…pick up Miguel Ortiz. He dates her sister…he had to be the one."

Steve threw his hands up and shook his head. "You want me to arrest someone for dating a kid-who-got-beat up big sister? Go home, Gail. Get some rest…enjoy your two days off and let this drop."

"I'm glad you can let things like this drop, Steve," Gail said disgusted with the entire situation. She turned to walk away from her brother, but Steve stopped her.

"The kid was beat up?" he asked again.

"Yes…" she shifted the lockbox to under the other arm.

"Bring her in and I'll have someone pick up this Ortiz clown. But I can't hold him for long," Steve warned.

Gail smiled in relief. "Okay, fair…" she lookedd at the clock behind her brother. It was a bit after three so Holly would most likely still be in the lab. "I have to get this to Holly but…"

"Holly huh…how is that going?" Steve asked genuinely concerned.

"I don't know," Gail shrugged. "How are you and Traci going?" Steve looked past Gail to where Traci was standing. Gail punched her brother in the shoulder. "Talk to her…and apologize."

"Have you apologized to Holly?" Gail didn't really know how to answer that question. "It's like a Peck curse isn't it? Knowing exactly what you should be saying, but absolutely no ability to actually say it."

Gail didn't even need to comment on that one. "I'm going to take this to Holly and then I will swing by and pick Jade up, okay? Get that bastard off the streets please!"

"You know you don't do this much work on your actual days of work?" Steve yelled behind his sister, but she was already out the door.

"What does Gail have you doing, now?" Traci said coming over and actually smiling at Steve.

"Saving the world, one child at a time," Steve said returning the smile. "She said that that Erica Jade kid got beat up…by her sister's boyfriend's gang."

"Kiana Reyes? Who is her boyfriend?"

"Miguel Ortiz …some punk that used to run guns, now it seems like he's running drugs."

"And using creative and unusual ways to transport it I see. So he knows about the girl's experiment…"

"Steals the experiment and tries to use it to transport drugs, but it backfires and people die." Steve surmised. "That's enough to bring the bastard in for some questions…"

"It sure is," Traci nodded. "Can I ride along?"

Steve couldn't help but smile. "I'd like that…"

* * *

"I'm not stalking you or anything… I promise," Gail said putting the lockbox down in front of Holly. After what had happened earlier, Gail really didn't want to face Holly again that day, but at the same time, Holly was the only person she truly wanted to be around. Holly only smiled softly. "Anyways, these are Jade's; she said they need to be somewhere cold."

"What are they?" Holly asked readjusting her glasses. Gail punched in the numbers on the lock, opened the top and turned the box to face Holly. "She gave you her vessels?"

"Temporary…her sister's bastard of a boyfriend had her jumped. She thinks Nina gave them the first set…"

Holly grimaced. "How is Jade?"

"She's a strong kid," Gail twisted her mouth a bit. "Can you keep these…I'm actually going back to get her. I should have never left her…but Steve agreed to at least pick up her sister's boyfriend."

"Why did he have her beat up?"

"She won't say exactly, but he is a known gang member of the Brixton gang. Jade's still protecting someone, and it's definitely not herself…so I'm going to do that."

"You are great at protecting people, Gail," Holly said closing the lockbox and opening one of the high-powered fridges. "They should be safe in here." A small silence fell between them before Holly looked at Gail. "I should have protected your feelings, Gail. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" Gail questioned with confusion etched on her face.

"I screwed up too. Lisa had no right to say anything about our relationship and I was stupid for letting her. We've just always let her say whatever and ignored it, but the second she hurt you…I should have corrected her. You aren't just fun for me, Gail, and I've been trying to…I don't know, get over you. But it's not working and I miss you so much."

"I miss you too… but it's not that easy is it?" Gail asked leaning against the desk.

"I'm terrified that you are going to walk away when things get hard," Holly admitted sadly. She moved closer to Gail. "But if anyone was ever worth it…you are worth the risk of a broken heart, Gail."

Gail leaned in and kissed Holly softly. "Really?" Gail could feel her cell phone vibrate on her hip. "This is not happening," she whispered against Holly's lips. She pulled her phone from her hip. She didn't readily recognize the number, and then it dawned on her that it may have been Jade. "I have to take it, but can we finish this later? Dinner…I'm buying?" Her phone buzzed louder.

Holly smiled. "Okay…I'll be here until seven probably."

"I'll pick you up from here," she kissed Holly quickly again. "Hello," she picked up her phone. "Hello…" she said again, but soon only heard a dial tone.

"Who was that?" Holly questioned. She was still close enough that Gail could feel her breath on her neck.

"I don't know, but I'm going to pick up Jade. I have an off feeling. I wanna make sure she's safe," she leaned in and kissed Holly one last time. She didn't want Holly to feel like them talking and getting back right wasn't on the top of her priority list though. "I'll be here at seven o'clock no matter what though…promise." She backed out of the door and looked at Holly before turning and jogging to her car.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N - Wanted to get this chapter out because it seems like this story is coming to an end. Probably about two more chapters or so! Everyone enjoy...the last two chapters will probably be posted next week! Thanks for all your comments and reviews so far! **

**I own nothing; comments and reviews welcomed! **

Breathe

Jade rubbed the injection spot and grimaced at the small pinch she felt from taking her insulin. She should have been used to the ritual by now, she had been doing it long enough, but she still hated needles more than anything else in the world. "You okay in there?" she could hear Kiana calling, but she ignored the urge to actually answer. They were doing okay right now; as okay as the two of them could be, considering, and Jade wasn't particularly ready to kill that mood yet. She made her way back into the living room where she could see Kiana in the kitchen.

"I can't believe someone jumped you…" Kiana said leaning against the countertop. She had no intentions of taking full credit for what happened to Jade, but the way she tip-toed around the conversation let Jade know that it was all Kiana. "These neighborhoods just aren't as safe as they used to be…" Kiana commented turning around stirring her pasta. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Peachy," Jade said flipping on the television.

"Hey, turn that off… we are going to have dinner together and it's gonna be ready soon."

Jade did as she was told without any argument. She was content; content that her experiments were safe for now and Kiana's anger seemed to have been appeased by her getting jumped.

"Come here and grab a couple of plates for me, will you?" Kiana asked a bit too sugary sweetly.

"It hurts when I walk," Jade countered, propping her feet up on the couch.

Kiana said nothing, only set the table herself. "Well, come on …let's eat," she beckoned her little sister over.

"I don't like spaghetti," Jade reminded her sister as she filled the plate in front of her. "Tomato sauce makes my throat itchy."

Kiana nodded. "Oh…that's right," she remembered. "I keep getting confused; I thought Nina was allergic to tomatoes. You two were so confusing…I remember when mom dropped you two off with me. I was still a kid myself, but living on my own and she just dropped you guys off. Hell, most people would have turned you guys away, but not me…I think Nina was beginning to appreciate that …"

"Yep, I'm sure she was," Jade nodded picking at the salad in front of her.

"Listen, I'm going to cut the shit with you…when I used to ask Nina to do things…she never questioned me because she knew that every I did was for all of us. It's not easy supporting us all, Jade. And I have to do whatever it takes…so I need your help Jade."

"What can I do for you, Kiana?" Jade asked sweetly.

"You've actually made something that is very useful," Kiana spoke as if she was explaining things to an idiot. "Alex is okay at moving 'product' but his family wants to expand and get the products into prisons…."

"And the squat and cough method stalling that plan," Jade said with no real humor.

"You find this funny, but those vessels are game-changers…."

"They aren't meant to be swallowed and they definitely aren't going to be used for prison-muling."

"Oh, but you can tweak them, Jade," Kiana had a new sense of excitement. "What can they hold, three to five grams…and a person can swallow four or five…Nina swallowed five and she's tiny…" Kiana leaned back in her chair awaiting Jade's reaction. When she received none, she continued. "Work with me instead of against me, Jade. We are in…Alex trusts me explicitly and we are in…just help me refine your work. Nina said you were working on a second batch…something stronger…" Jade bit her lower lip in frustration. She never shared her experiments with Kiana, but had always let Nina know what she was doing. What a mistake. "We can work on them together," Kiana suggested.

"How can I trust you, Kiana?" Jade asked meekly. "As soon as you have what you want from me…I'm disposable, like Nina."

Kiana shook her head. "A kid as smart as you is never disposable, Jade," Kiana assured her little sister. She smiled after a moment. "We could do big things together."

"Okay," Jade said nodding. "I just don't want to be disposable," Jade said actually taking a bite of her salad. She relaxed a little and Kiana smiled. "It's just good to know we have a plan…we won't get hurt will we?"

Kiana took a bit bite of her spaghetti. "No…we are good …I have Alex wrapped around my finger…we just need to produce. Do you have a new set of the vessels…Nina said she thought you were working on them before you left."

"Yeah, you can have them …I'll even teach you how to make them because in a month, I'm out of here," Jade reminded her. "But you can have them and the formula," she assured her sister.

"Fair…" Kiana smiled. Maybe this was going to be easier than trying to bully her little sister. Jade wanted more than anything to just get away and at least this way Kiana would get what she wanted also. "I'll make sure everything is taken care of when you go to the States. You'll always have money in your pocket…the nicest of things."

Jade smiled too. "Yeah…that's definitely fair."

They ate quietly for a while before Kiana asked. "So…where is the new batch?"

"Oh," Jade laughed. "Ummm… they do better when kept at colder temperature, so they are in a lab refrigerator. I can go get them if you want," she scooted her seat back.

"We'll go together," Kiana stopped her. "The lab at the college right…"

"No…two of the larger fridges burnt out at the school so my mentoring professor moved a couple of the experiments somewhere else…" she stood. "I'll go call him and see where," she headed down the hallway before her sister could stop her. Closing the door behind her, she scrambled to get the floorboard up and grab her gun. She made sure the safety was on before placing it precariously on her hip between her soft flesh and the jeans her slender frame barely held up. The she pulled Gail's card out of her pocket along with her cell phone. Dialing as quickly as possible she waited as the phone rang and rang.

"Jade," Kiana said barging in without knocking.

Jade looked at her sister with her mouth open. "Hello…" she could hear Gail on the other end say. She wanted to say something, scream something but couldn't. She pressed end and smiled. "I was trying to call my professor and see where he moved everything."

"Did you get him?" Kiana asked. She was a bit tense, and Jade could see as much. Neither one of them trusted the other too much.

"Yeah…" she breathed heavily.

"Where are they?" Kiana asked simply.

Jade thought about lying for a moment, but knew it wouldn't work. It would be easier to go in and grab the vessels and come out…no harm done. "Yeah…he said we were using the morgue. I can run in and run out."

"Okay, I'll take you…" Kiana offered eyeing her sister suspiciously. Jade was always a tricky kid, and for someone reason, Kiana was beginning to believe this was going too well.

"Okay…let's go." Jade smiled grabbing a jacket and sliding it on to cover the small bulge her gun made. "The quicker the better, right?"

* * *

It was supposed to be easy. Kiana had parked in the back of the morgue where there was only a dim flicking light to illuminate the now darkening sky. "Hurry up, okay," she told Jade as the young girl got out of the car. "Hey, let me borrow your cell phone," Kiana said nonchalantly. "Mine is dead…" Jade couldn't fight the request, especially since she knew Kiana was testing her. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and tossed it to her sister. Then Jade jogged around to the front of the building and opened the door a bit apprehensively. She had never been to the morgue before, and although dead people didn't exactly frighten her, the thought of her sister outside waiting for her was a bit frightening.

Jade stopped at the small reception desk in the front hallway, but no one was around. It was about 4:15 in the afternoon on a Friday, so it wasn't particularly surprising that everyone had knocked off a bit earlier. Jade looked around, wondering what to do next.

"Jade," Holly said from down the hallway. She was holding a few blue folders and appeared to be going back towards a restricted area. "What are you doing here?" she asked frowning. "Gail is headed to pick you up…"

"I need my vessels," Jade said with a bit of relief in seeing someone she knew. "Do you have any idea where she put them?"

Holly looked around still with a frown on her face. Jade seemed nervous and anxious, a stark difference from the girl she met earlier that morning. "Jade, what's the matter?"

Jade shrugged, "Nothing…I just …I just really need my vessels…like now."

Holly watched Jade for a moment. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll be right back, just stay here."

Jade hopped from one foot to the next for what seemed like an eternity. Looking back and forth to the front door, Jade prayed that Holly would just hurry up. Kiana was super impatient and furthermore, Jade could tell that she didn't fully trust her. She went over to the desk and wrote down two numbers quickly and folded the piece of paper. By that time, Holly was back with her black lockbox.

"Jade, what's going on?" Holly asked before handing the lockbox over.

"Can you get in contact with Gail…and give her these," she handed Holly the piece of paper. "It's my cell number and my sister's…but tell her not to call them."

"That doesn't make sense…" Holly said, but Jade had already turned to walk away. "Jade…"

She turned back around, "She'll understand," Jade said confidently. "Tell her DON'T call…"

Holly waited until Jade went back out of the door before pulling out her cell phone and dialing Gail. "Gail…" she began once the woman answered. "Jade was just here and she took her vessels."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Gail said with some confusion. She had made it to Jade's house, but no one had answered. "Where is she now, Hol?"

"She just left," Holly said exiting the building. She didn't see any cars in the front of the building and was tempted to walk around back, but something stopped her. "I don't know Gail…something seemed off."

"Who was she with?" Gail asked becoming nervous. She didn't like the sound of this or the fact that Jade had gone to get her vessels this quickly after giving them to her.

"I don't know…she was alone. Gail, she told me to give you these numbers, but for you not call, if that makes any sense." Gail was silent for so long that Holly called her name. "Gail…say something…what is going on?"

"I don't know," Gail admitted in frustration. "Can you text me the numbers?"

"Yeah, no problem…you don't think Jade is in trouble do you?" Holly questioned.

Gail wanted to say no, but she wasn't for sure. "It's a long story, Hol, but I can't be for sure."

"Gail, don't keep me in the dark…"

"I'm not even sure what's going on. All I know is that Jade has a connection to the Brixton gang…Hey, I'm going back to the station. I'll call you as soon as I know something, okay?" Gail didn't give her time to protest and hung up immediately. She took a deep breath and got back into the car. A few moments passed before she received a text from Holly with the numbers. Before she could use the numbers, her cell phone began to ring.

"Yeah Steve," she answered the phone quickly.

"Hey we got Ortiz here at the station. Do you have the kid?" Steve asked his sister.

"No, she wasn't home. When did you pick up Ortiz?"

"About twenty minutes ago…Gail, I can't hold him unless I get a statement from the kid. If you can't find her…"

"I'm doing the best I can, Steve. She's not home," Gail replied back sharply. "I don't know where else… wait…I need you to ping a phone number for me…" Gail said.

"Ping a phone number?" Steve questioned.

"Yeah….have a tech guy ping this phone number…" she gave Steve the number. It made sense, the reason why Jade told her not to call but gave her the phone numbers.

"I can ping the numbers myself, Gail," Steve informed her. After a minute he cleared his throat. "Okay the phones are headed towards the downtown district. Near the bakery warehouse…"

"Thanks," Gail said quickly.

"No…Gail…no…do not go there alone. I'll grab Traci and we'll check this out." Gail was only halfway listening as she started her car. "Gail!" Steve said louder this time. He realized that it was useless telling her not to go, so he appealed to her in a different way. "Just wait until we get there, Gail. Gail…" but the called ended itself.

* * *

Jade saw the contentment sparkle in her sister's eyes as they headed back out on the road. She had asked Jade to open up the lockbox so she could see the contents inside, and once she saw twenty-five new vessels, she smiled brightly. "We can make more too, right? Just tell me what you need and I can get it for you," she assured her sister. She was going to take her sister and drop her off at home and then run back down to the bakery warehouse where the gang worked. Alex would be so proud and impressed.

"Yeah we can make more," Jade said pressing her head against the window. She had sold out her own experiment, but at least she trusted that Holly would get her number to Gail and maybe this nonsense would be over soon.

"Hey Jade… I'm sorry about the whole, beat up thing…but really, I thought you were going to leave me little options here," she offered a smile to her sister. "I should have just talked to you…We could have gotten this done the easy way…" she stopped, because her cell phone rang.

"I thought your phone was dead," Jade said sitting up straighter now.

"Must have a little bit of juice left," Kiana chuckled at her own white lie. "Hello," Kiana picked up the phone and began a conversation. Jade took a deep breath from her nostrils and turned back towards the window. "What do you mean Alex got arrested?" Kiana said out loud. She peered at Jade and an uncomfortable shift happened in the air. "No…I'll handle it," she said ominously, "I don't know what could have happened either…" she hung up the phone and turned her head towards Jade. "Well, Alex has been arrested it seems," Kiana said nonchalantly. "I can't imagine how that happened.

Jade shrugged. "What happened?"

"I don't know. You don't mind if we stopped by the warehouse do you?"

Jade shifted uncomfortable. "You're driving," she said nervously.

"Yeah…I am," Kiana eyed Jade and for a brief second, Jade could see anger flash in her sister's eyes. She knew that this was somehow Jade's fault, and more than anything, Jade knew she was going to have to pay.


	6. Chapter 6

Out of Hand

The two things that Gail remembered first when she saw the scene was simple; backup was on the way and Kiana Reyes did NOT have a gun. However, and perhaps unfortunately, Erica Jade did have a gun, pointed directly and urgently at her sister, who was now on the ground. The two studied each other in silence, as Gail stopped her car and exited the vehicle cautiously. "Jade, what's going on here…" she asked forcefully, trying to hide some of her nervousness. They were in front of the bakery warehouse, but everything was eerily still and quiet compared to the usually chaotic hub this place had become. Jade had turned her head for only a moment, but there was a flood of relief that clouded her eyes when she saw Gail.

"Gail…just leave," she said, her voice shaky from emotion.

"Tell me what's going on here, Jade," Gail said calmly, but checking to make sure that her vest was in place and weapon was securely on her hip. "Why is your sister on the ground?"

Jade's eyes never left Kiana, but she said, "It was better than me being on the ground." Gail looked the girl over and noticed the bits of gravel on the back of her shirt. She had been on the ground…there had been some kind of scuffle. She took another step closer, which caused Jade to quickly peer over at her. "Just stop Gail!" she warned. "Don't come any closer."

Kiana took this small opportunity to sit up straighter now which seemed to set Jade off. She flipped off the safety. "Jade!" Gail screamed. "Stop it!" This situation was becoming worse…she would have to treat Jade like the suspect soon and draw a gun on her. "Just tell me what's going on."

"She's going to kill me," Jade said seriously.

"I don't even have to kill you," Kiana responded cockily. The gun in her face didn't seem to quell her need to piss her little sister off. "You turned in Alex and everyone in his crew knows it. They are going to kill you either way," she assured Jade.

"Nothing to lose killing you then?" Jade countered.

"No one is killing anyone!" Gail shouted, which seemed to break the trance between the two. "Jade, give me the gun," she begged before this became any worse.

"I'm going to die anyway, Gail," Jade said sadly. She believed her sister, because she had told Gail about Alex and the crew. But above all, they had never trusted her either way.

"You got what you wanted didn't you Kiana?" Gail said knowingly. "You got the vessels; leave your sister alone." She hoped that it would work…she could handle Jade, or at least she hoped so, but not if she truly feared for her life. She took another step closer to Jade. "Jade, you can just go…they can't hurt you…I won't let them," Gail said softly to the girl.

Kiana thought about it for a moment. "Yeah…I'll tell them it's all a mistake…that you are leaving soon anyways…and Alex will get out."

Jade looked at her sister with disgust. She didn't trust her; no more than Kiana truly trusted her. But she trusted Gail and if Gail said she could protect her… "Gail…" she said momentarily and then shook her head. "I can't…" she straightened out her hand to point the gun at Kiana.

"I swear! I swear! You can just walk away," Kiana said. She knew that look on her sister and Jade was really considering shooting her.

"Jade, tell me what happened…" Gail tried a different approach.

"The cops picked up Alex and she blames me. That's why we are here…'no one can hear you scream in the warehouse… They've never heard anyone else scream' …" Jade trailed off mocking her sister's tone. "I tried to run Gail…but she hit me and we struggled, but…"

"Where did you get the gun?" Gail asked. Jade was silent. "Jade…give me the gun," she begged once again. "I swear…I won't let anyone hurt you and we'll get this all figured out."

"I'm not stupid…to not have a gun around these bastards…." Kiana sneered and for a second, Gail thought that Jade was actually going to pull the trigger. "I'm as good as dead either way," Jade shrugged.

"I thought you said your sister would protect you," Gail started again. She had to keep Jade talking…she wouldn't do anything stupid if she was talking.

Jade switched the gun into her right hand so she could face Gail. "There is no such thing as protection. I tried to get away, but there is no escaping this. At least…at least she'll pay for Nina."

"What do you mean?" Gail asked quickly.

Jade returned her attention to Kiana. She used her free hand to stabilize the gun. "What do I mean Kiana?"

Kiana rolled her eyes, and scooted back. "I don't know," she lied.

"You killed her and you were going to kill me!" Jade spat. Kiana didn't respond, so Jade took a step closer to her.

Kiana saw the seriousness in her eyes. "Fine…Nina gave me the vessels and when I needed a kid to test them…" she let her words trail off. "Shit happens."

Gail looked at Kiana in disgust. "Did you know?" Gail looked at Jade and her heart broke a bit. "Jade, you should have told me."

"I thought I could get away…one month and I was going to the States…and it fell apart in ONE day. She wants to use the vessels to smuggle drugs into prisons." Jade saw the flash of anger on her sister's face and knew that was the last straw. "I'm going to die either way, Gail."

"I SWEAR to you, Jade…." Gail took another step closer. She could hear the faint sound of sirens in the distance and prayed that it was Traci and Steve. "I will protect you…just let me. You don't want to do this. It is not even you! You are going to save lives one day…change the world. Don't give that up because your sister is a bitch." Jade looked at her and she knew there was still a chance. "Jade, trust me." Gail made it all the way beside Jade, and put her hand gently on the hand that Jade had the gun in. The girl let Gail take the gun out of her hand and she dropped the clip out of gun and pulled the last bullet out of the chamber.

Gail couldn't put her finger on exactly what happened next, yet she heard the clap of a gun and felt her body shift backward. She fell to the ground on instinct more than pain, but quickly recovered and pulled her own gun off of her hip. The subsequent shots rang out in quick succession, three in a row and all hitting their target. Gail saw Jade hit the ground in her peripheral vision and when her eyes locked on the fact that Kiana was now standing with a gun in her hand, she automatically fired twice on the woman. Kiana dropped the gun first, then fell to her knees. The sirens were surrounding them now, and although Gail's first instinct was to run to Jade, she went over to Kiana and commandeered her gun. She had hit Kiana in the shoulder and in the arm and now the woman was gripping her right arm in pain. Gail pulled her handcuffs off her hip and expertly applied them to Kiana.

The blood was rushing through her head, and she couldn't really tell if it was from the pain or the panic, but somehow she made her way over to Jade. The girl lay on the ground, trembling wide-eyed as Gail hovered over her. "I have a pedestrian down near the bakery warehouse," Gail said into her radio. "I need paramedics here now!"

Gail could hear the soft clucking sound Jade made as she tried to speak. "Stop, don't try to talk," Gail whispered softly, covering Jade's already bloody hand with her own. She had been hit in the side of the neck, upper chest and shoulder, but she was only covering her neck. Jade made a move to speak again, but this caused her to get choked. "Don't talk…" Gail said. Jade reached out and pointed to Gail's vest before closing her eyes.

Gail could already feel the pain; she had been feeling the pain since she cuffed Kiana, but Jade was her first priority. The girl was not going to die on her watch, even though she slowly seemed to be fading away. "Come on, Jade, stay with me," she pleaded delicately. It was another six minutes before Gail could clearly hear sirens of any kind. She saw the paramedics first and then heard Steve and Traci…before everything got a little more blurry and a lot more painful.

* * *

Gail took a deep breath and it felt like it would cave in her chest. "Are you sure this is all that happened?" the internal detective asked again. He had taken her statement no less than three times and although Gail told him the exact same story each time, he continued to ask her questions. "And you shot Ms. Kiana Reyes…."

"After she had emptied her half of her clip into her little sister and me…" Gail said irately. "You know the kid that almost bled to death in my arms!"

"Calm down, Peck. I'm just making sure everything was by the book."

She had been sitting in this hospital bed for over six hours and although she wanted nothing more than to find out any information on Jade, she had been given the third degree by one of the internal detectives in the department. "Listen to me…she shot her kid sister AFTER she put a bullet in my vest. That's why I'm sitting here with fractured ribs and it feels like I'm breathing in fire when I breathe!"

"What about the third gun? The girl, Jade had a gun also?" the detective continued, ignoring Gail's outburst.

"When I first got there…yes, but she gave it to me. I emptied the clip and the chamber, but Kiana had a gun hidden, evidently."

The detective nodded. "That's all we need for right now, Peck." He got up out of the uncomfortable hospital chair and exited the room. It didn't take Gail five seconds before she had hopped down from the bed and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Holly asked gently, leaning against the wall outside of Gail's door.

"What…what are you doing here?" Gail asked a bit confused at Holly's presence and a bit set back from the pain.

"Traci called me…baby…I mean Gail, what happened?" Holly's eyes were worried. The same worried she was the first time they kissed after she heard someone was hunting down officers of division 15.

"It's messy," Gail admitted, leaning against the other side of the wall. "I think I screwed up…so badly," Gail breathed deeply. "She could die…"

"Who could die?" Holly asked coming closer to Gail. "Talk to me?"

"Jade got shot tonight," Gail whispered sliding down the wall onto the floor. "I got a kid shot tonight, Holly."

"Hey," Holly said going over to soothe Gail.

"Holly, I screwed up and got Jade shot and myself shot…"

"What! You got shot!" Holly questioned looking over Gail quickly. "Where did you get shot!"

"It hit the vest…cracked ribs through." Holly reached under Gail's black shirt and touched her ribs gently. She could feel Gail's breathing settle a bit. Gail closed her eyes and felt a tear escape. "That's a nifty trick," she whispered.

Holly kissed her forehead gently. "Can you get back in that room and in your bed, please?"

"I need to check on Jade," Gail moaned even though she was in pain and incredibly sleepy. Being up all night didn't help her situation any.

"I'll check on Jade and come right back," Holly said helping her to her feet. "Just please," she opened the door and lead Gail inside. Gail sat on the bed like a five year old being made to take a nap, but eventually lay back. "I'll be right back," Holly promised again before exiting the room. When Holly made her way back into Gail's room, Gail had already closed her eye, so all that was left for Holly to do was wait.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N : Tried to finish it up in just this chapter, but have an idea for one final chapter. Everyone enjoy ...and as always, reviews and comments are appreciated and welcomed. **

***I own nothing***

***Please forgive the editing of this chapter, all mistakes are mine :)***

Probabilities

Gail could still remember the first time she had seen Holly's bare legs. It was much like this morning, she was in bed, caramel Egyptian cotton sheets falling to either side of her legs as she read a magazine. Holly was so easily preoccupied with knowledge that she didn't notice Gail looking at her intently. She had read three complete pages before she noticed Gail was too quiet. "What are you doing?" she asked cautiously looking up from the magazine and down at Gail, who was on the opposite end of the bed. That encountered had ended oh so well.

"What are you doing?" Holly asked this time, flipping the page of the medical journal. She looked up and smiled at Gail, seemingly just as happy about Gail being there as Gail actually felt. Holly fidgeted with her shorts and pulled them down a bit, yet they still exposed most of her smooth tan legs.

"You are so beautiful," Gail murmured, coming closer to Holly and landing her mouth gently on Holly's. She was reluctant to even pull back, but eventually she did. "I missed you so much." Gail straddled Holly's hip gently and waited until Holly's arms were around her neck. "I think I love you…"

Holly smiled, "You think?" she questioned. She ran her hands on either side of Gail's neck and kissed her cheek, chin, and then mouth. "Doesn't sound promising," Holly whispered.

Gail smiled, that tender smile that made everything feel alright with the world. "You know what I mean…" she pressed down harder in Holly's lap and tried to close any space between them. She scooted back a bit when a sharp pain ran down her side and settled on her ribs.

Holly knew instinctively what was wrong. She ran a gentle hand against Gail's ribcage. "I'm so sorry you are in pain, baby," Holly frowned kissing her neck. It was the thing preventing them from being physical yet…Holly's unwavering vow to not hurt Gail.

"You can kiss it and make it better," Gail suggested seductively. She hadn't been home since the day she had been shot, so she was borrowing most of Holly's clothes. It was a perk of dating a beautiful woman, she did get to share clothes; and tonight it was an orange and blue flannel shirt that buttoned down the front. Gail smiled as she began unbuttoning the shirt slowly, watching as Holly's face lit up at the prospect of having her. "You like what you see?" Gail laughed. Soon Holly's impatience got the best of her and Gail's slow pace was driving her crazy. Her hands took over for Gail's, but before she could complete her task, Gail could feel something cold on her body. "Baby, your hands are cold," she said looking down, but it wasn't Holly's hands that were cold, it was the blood dripping from her ribcage.

* * *

Gail could feel her breath catch and then the coughing came. She sat directly up, the hospital bed was both hard and uncomfortable and the fact that she had turned directly on her fractured ribs made her pain even worse. Gail coughed a few more times clearing her lungs of all the painful, harsh air that was trapped there and opened her eyes to the darkness surrounding her. "Holly," she said weakly. It was a sad and terrible fact that she didn't just call Holly's name because she was scared and confused by her dream, but this had been a regular occurrence when she woke up in her own bed too. "Dammit," she barely had time to mutter before she felt a hand on her thigh.

"Baby, are you okay?" Holly asked quietly. Gail wrapped her arms around Holly tightly, trying to hold back tears, but failing miserable. "Hey…I'm here," Holly cooed, rubbing her back tenderly. She pulled back a moment, she could see Gail's tears even in the blanketed darkness of the room.

"What are you doing here?" Gail questioned softly. She waited until Holly turned on a light above the bed, before wrapping her up in another hug.

"I wasn't going to leave you tonight, Gail. You were shot…" Holly's hand went to cup Gail's face. "Half of the Division has been by to check on you. Dov, Chloe and Oliver just left the waiting room a few hours ago."

"What time is it?" Gail said rubbing her eyes, trying to allow them to readjust to the light.

"About two in the morning, I guess," Holly shrugged. She cracked her neck quickly; laying in the most uncomfortable chair ever was wreaking havoc on her body. "You should lay back, get some rest…"

"You stayed," Gail said humbly.

"I wouldn't leave," Holly responded kissing Gail's forehead. She moved off of the bed and pulled the chair closer to the bed, allowing Gail to lay down on her good side. "I'm never going to leave you again," she stated matter-of-factly, as a few tears slipped from Gail's eyes.

"You can't promise that," Gail said sadly.

Holly leaned over and kissed her lips softly. "I can and do promise that…"

And Gail ultimately believed that, and for a moment, she was safe. And then it came flooding back to her. "Jade…" she said closing her eyes to cut out gut punch even the name made her feel. She sat back up again and stared at Holly for a moment. "How is Jade?"

"She's…she's in serious condition. They removed two bullets, but the one in neck was a bit…it was in an awkward place and they couldn't stabilize her long enough to get it out with this surgery. They are going to try again when her heartbeat is more stable and she's stronger… hopefully tomorrow." Holly knew that look, the look on Gail's face right now let her know there would be water works in the near future. "Hey, she's a strong kid, Gail," Holly said taking Gail's hand.

"This is all my fault," Gail said weakly. "I told Steve to pick up Alex and that's what set her sister off."

"Her sister was a monster that was going to use her to smuggle drugs…"

"And I got her three gunshot wounds…" Gail became quiet. "It wasn't even my day to work," she cried gently. "I just didn't want to be alone …and I could have cost a kid her life."

"Gail…she's going to make it," Holly said more firmly this time.

"She was going to shoot her sister and I talked her into giving me her gun…and Kiana shot her like she was nothing. I should have just stayed in bed this morning. Kiana wouldn't have wanted to kill her if I hadn't had Alex picked up…."

"Gail, Jade knew she could trust you…she made sure I got you her number, because she knew you would protect her…."

"Protecting her was getting her shot three times!" Gail's voice rose unintentionally. She grabbed her side and allowed the tears to flow freely now. Holly moved back onto the bed and wrapped Gail in a hug.

"I love you so much, Gail," she said honestly. "This is not your fault and I know it may feel like it is, but if you didn't intervene when you did, Jade WOULD be dead. She is going to pull through and be just as special and brilliant as she was before. And that is ALL because of you," Holly said kissing her forehead again. Gail settled, feeling safe and content jut to be against Holly's chest.

After a moment she looked up, "What happens when she is okay…her sister is going to jail and a gang is going to be after her. She has nowhere to go…the foster system…"

"We don't have to figure it out tonight, Gail…but she'll have us," Holly promised.

"There's an us?" Gail asked looking up at Holly again.

Holly shrugged, "There could only be an us at this point," Holly admitted. "I think you've ruined me for all other women. I just keep comparing them to how you make me feel."

Gail smiled through her tears. "Good…I never want you to feel comfortable with anyone else," she kissed Holly's chin, then her lips. "Do you think I could go check on Jade? I just need to see her…"

"Gail…there are a lot of tubes and …" but the look on Gail's face stopped her. "Let's see what I can do…

Gail didn't know how Holly pulled it off, but forty minutes later, she was being wheeled down to the ICU. "You can't stay long…the ICU visiting hours have long past," the older nurse warned. Holly nodded, but Gail was already heading towards Jade's bedside.

"She looks so small," Gail whispered. The girl was hooked up to what looked like every machine in the hospital. Holly came up behind her and took her hand.

"Her heartbeat is stabilized. That's a really good sign for tomorrow…" Holly said brightly. Gail turned to her and smiled.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"I'm just being honest," Holly replied. "She's strong, Gail…she's going to be fine."

Gail nodded her head slowly. "Will you sit with me, with her for a while?" she asked meekly.

"Of course," Holly said pulling up a chair beside Gail.

The sun was rising before Gail and Holly made their way back to Gail's room. "You'll likely be released today," Holly stated softly. Sitting up had taken its toll on Gail's ribs so she immediately laid down. "Do you want to come back to my house?"

"Yes," Gail asked quickly.

Holly smiled, letting out a breath of relief. "I'll go pack you a bag…" she had been awake longer than Gail, but she was still wired from the day before. "And then I'll be back."

"You should rest too…" Gail said knowingly. She was exhausted and she had actually napped.

"I'll rest when you are safely in my bed…" Holly leaned down and kissed Gail. "I'm going to shower and eat and head over and pack your bag…then I'll be back." She turned to head out the door.

"Holly…" Gail stopped her. "I love you."

* * *

"She stayed here all night, didn't she?" Traci asked watching the contentment on Gail's face. Everyone had been in and out of her room all day and although Gail figured they would release her today, the doctors had decided she needed one more day of observation to be deemed "in the clear." Still, Gail didn't mind…she like being closer to Jade just in case something happened. The girl had stabilized and was going back into surgery this afternoon.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere making up with my brother," Gail ignored the question. Chris, Andy, Dov, Chloe and Nick had worn her out checking on her most of the morning and she knew that Oliver and Steve would drop by soon. Holly had made her way back into the room, but had taken an uncomfortable position in a chair near the window to get a few moments of shut eye.

"You want me to take an example from you?" Traci laughed as quietly as possible. Holly shifted in the chair and Gail threw the stuffed animal Traci had brought her back at her. "Hey, Leo sent you that…his Aunt Gail, the hero…"

"Oh…I hope the kid doesn't think I'm a hero…"

"You are though. We have Kiana Reyes, and Alex Ortiz..."

"And a teenager got shot up because of me," Gail frowned. She sat on the edge of the bed. "They are doing her surgery in less than thirty minutes. Removing a bullet from the side of her neck…"

"Chloe survived that…"

"She wasn't a diabetic and she didn't have two other close range shots in her chest and shoulder…" Gail rubbed her head worriedly. "Holly said Jade will be fine too."

"She's a doctor…"

"She said it just to shut me up…"

"Why, a good dose of morphine could have done that… you would have been out like a light," Traci smiled. "You two are good together…"

"Like you and Steve….you and Leo are making him a better person and believe me, the Pecks can use that."

Before Traci could respond there was a quick tap on the door and Steve peeked his head inside the door. "Oh, I didn't know you were here," he said when he saw Traci. He looked at Gail. "I brought you a bear" he pointed it towards Gail.

"Ooh.. what an awesome big brother," Gail said sarcastically. "You couldn't bring donuts or cupcakes…something edible."

Traci stood, looking awkwardly at Steve. "I'll run out and get you something …cookies…cake…something…" Traci offered.

"Yeah, Steven will go with you," Gail said annunciating her brother's name. "Go with her Steven," she smiled sneakily.

Steve threw the stuffed animal at Gail, but she caught it. "I don't think Traci asked me to go…"

"I wouldn't mind your company," Traci said looking squarely at Steve.

"Really," he asked, a small smile breaking across his face.

"Yeah, I would actually really like your company," she turned back to Gail. "Cupcakes, or donuts right?"

Gail nodded, impressed with her own matchmaking abilities. She laughed as Steve opened the door and let Traci exit the room first. "Oh, by the way…Mom may very well be down here at any moment."

Gail threw the stuffed animal back at Steve. "You better be lying," but Steve disappeared behind the door.

"Your mom's coming?" Holly questioned yawning a bit.

"Unlikely," Gail said reclining back on the bed. "She never shows up, unless they are trying to take my badge for conduct inappropriate for an officer; then she'll show up to take my badge," Gail yawned.

"Why don't you try to nap," Holly encouraged.

"Her surgery will be soon," Gail said yawning. "I gotta know what happens," she said closing her eyes unintentionally. Holly moved a bit of hair from Gail's forehead. "I wish you could hold me," she said absently.

"Tomorrow, I can hold you," Holly commented.

"But not today," Gail opened her eyes up again. "Are you sure you want me…"

"That question is a nonstarter. Of course I want you…"

"I was going to say, to invade your house. I'm messy, and picky, and drink a lot…"

"And you talk in your sleep and when you are upset, you cry in your sleep," Holly said smiling. "I want you…in my house and every other way.

Gail laughed. "Good, because I'm one hell of a patient," she drifted off to sleep minutes later.

* * *

"The probabilities are against her," Gail said opening the blinds of Jade's room. The second surgery had been two days earlier and since that time, Gail had been released from the hospital and holed up in Holly's apartment. Holly had taken time off, just to make sure Gail was comfortable and although Gail didn't think she deserved it, she truly appreciated how well Holly looked after her.

"She doesn't seemed to be concerned with her probabilities. Her heartbeat is strong and even her insulin levels are becoming steady. She is doing very well, Gail."

"Then why isn't she awake?" Gail asked, frowning even though the sunlight illuminated her face.

"It takes time for the body to heal itself. You are doing the right thing though…you are here every day talking to her and making sure she is okay. She knows someone is in her corner."

Gail sat down and crossed her legs. "Hol, what happens when she does wake up?" she asked softly.

Holly moved in and stood in front of Gail. She ran her fingers through her hair. "What are you thinking about, honey?"

"I don't know…I want her to be completely safe…so I was thinking about becoming her guardian for a while …and I need you to be okay with that…" Gail saw the look of worry in Holly's face. "I don't want this to change us, Hol."

Holly blinked a few times. "I have an extra bedroom, Gail…when she gets well enough…she can stay with us."

Gail stood and kissed Holly passionately. "I love you," she said solemnly. "And when my ribs stop hurting every time I breathe, I'll show you."

"I definitely will look forward to that promise…" Holly laughed. "Hey, I need to run by work and pick up some files. I'll be back in like an hour tops," she bent to kiss Gail again. "And I love you too, Gail."

Gail couldn't help but smile watching her girlfriend leave the room. "Did you hear that kid? Just open your eyes and get released," she encouraged. She picked up the remote and flipped on the TV, then she took Jade's hand. "You know, if you just wake up and get out of here, Holly will probably let you go to the morgue lab every day. I mean, that sounds terrible for some people, but I know for a little nerd like you, that's exciting," Gail laughed. "Jade, I won't let anything happen to you I promise. Your sister, the Brixton gang…I'll never let them hurt you again." Gail watched Jade for a moment, the tubes in her arm, and the long tube in her throat and took a deep breath. She was trying to be optimistic and strong, but she didn't know what she would do if Jade didn't wake up.

At least Holly was on board; accepting the fact that Gail wanted to be Jade's guardian. "You are going to love Holly's place. And she is so good at taking care of people…like she actually cooks dinners that have vegetables …which will be good for you, since you have to eat vegetables."

It was faint, but Gail could feel it. "Did you squeeze my hand when I said vegetables," she questioned becoming a bit excited. "Come on Jade…" she waited a few minutes, but felt nothing. "Come on Erica Jade…" and there it was again, that faint squeeze. "Erica Jade…" and this time it was a bit more forceful. Gail looked at the girl for a moment and took a deep breath. "Hi," said barely, looking for the first time in nearly a week at Jade's eyes that were now open. "Now I see how to get your attention…" Gail laughed with relief.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm going to stop trying to predict when this story is going to end :) Here is the next installment. Reviews and comments are welcomed and as always, I own nothing :) Enjoy!**

The New Normal

Four Months Later

Holly crossed her legs as she watched Jade rub her injured shoulder absentmindedly. Jade was even more of an enigma than Gail some of the time, and Holly assumed that was because she was a teenager. Teenagers were tricky, but for the most part, Jade was one of the best Holly had encountered in her life.

"Is she gonna make it?" Jade asked. Her voice had changed since she had been shot; it was now thin and hoarse with barely any sound escaping when her lips moved. This was perhaps why Jade rarely talked now…between that and the fact that she was a self-proclaimed orphan now.

"Gail said she'd try," was all Holly could really offer. She tried to offer a reassuring smile to the girl, but Jade often saw through the bull. "Are you nervous about the results?"

Jade shrugged, and leaned back in the doctor's chair. This was her third appointment with the surgeon that had taken the bullet out of her shoulder and there were still little improvement from three months earlier. She was still in pain, and even worse she was losing feeling in her hands and trembling when she did repetitive motions. "My shoulder isn't gonna get better is it?" Jade questioned letting the words fumble off of her tongue. She didn't want to ask the question, but she knew that Holly would tell her the truth. Holly or Gail never lied or tried to spare her feelings and she appreciated as much.

"I'm not a surgeon, but it's early and there is a good chance this type of thing just takes time," Holly answered easily.

Jade looked at the clock again. "She's not going to make it," she said changing the subject. "Court is more important though, right?"

This was something Holly didn't want to talk about. Not for Gail or Jade's sake. The fact that Gail was going to testify at Kiana's arraignment gave Holly the shakes. The same person that shot not only Gail, but Jade was finally going to court after her lawyer had delayed and delayed and delayed. She knew that Kiana was guilty as sin, but her lawyer knew that stalling would provide a better picture for the judge. Gail would have healed by the time they went to trail and with any luck, so would Jade. Shooting a cop and kid that was now healed would be a lot better than a freshly shot cop and kid that may die.

"Erica Jade Reyes," the nurse said coming into the waiting room.

"Do you want to go alone?" Holly asked looking at Jade stand. Jade shook her head sadly. "Okay," she stood with the girl. "It won't be bad, Jade… and if it is … I'll be here, and Gail will be here."

"Even if I never get better…."

"You are getting better," Holly nodded. "Trust me, I'm a doctor," she laughed.

Jade smiled also. "I would feel a lot better if you actually worked on the living…" Holly gently pushed the girl ahead of her and shook her head with amusement.

* * *

"Gail…Gail…come to my office," Oliver said mounting the stairs leading up to his office. Gail turned around and stared at the clock and then back at Oliver's office. "Gail," he called again. She mounted the stairs quickly and leaned against the open door frame. "Close the door," Oliver suggested.

"Oliver, I'm already running late for court…"

"How are your girls, darlin'?" Oliver questioned, ignoring Gail's previous comment.

Gail laughed. Holly and Jade had become known around the Division as "Gail's Girls," and although it was corny at first, the term was growing on Gail. She was happy, pretty much every day now. Holly and Jade were great. Holly was perfect, nurturing and understanding to both Gail and Jade; hell, she had practically nursed them back to health. And Jade; Jade was a lot stronger than Gail remembered being at fifteen. Even though her move to the States was delayed and her spot at college had been given away, it didn't really seem to bother Jade. She was concentrating on getting better and even though Gail hated to admit it, she was happy that Jade wasn't fleeing quite yet. She enjoyed this feel of "family" even if it was only temporary.

"They are good," Gail smiled with her blue eyes twinkling. Even though she was headed to court, she knew that this is what she needed to do to protect Jade. Kiana Reyes would be going away for a very long time and Gail needed to do her part to make that happen. "We are a very, very boring family," Gail laughed. "Like dinners and they read a bunch crazy medical journals and science magazines, and its different and great," she admitted.

"That's awesome, kid," Oliver laughed at Gail being so happy. It broke his heart to have to tell her what he had to. "Well, about court today…"

"What about it?" Gail questioned.

"Kiana Reyes is taking a plea deal, darlin'. Five years for attempted murder and two years for an unregistered firearm. She'll likely serve about three years."

"What…" the words huffed out of Gail's chest. Gail knew the laws and this was not adding up. "She tried to kill two people Oliver! She shot a cop and a child! Her own sister!"

"I know that, Gail. But she doesn't have any priors and Jade had a gun too. They are afraid that it could look like self- defense."

"Shooting a kid is self-defense. Jade had given me the gun. What about the drugs?"

"It's Jade's word against Kiana's."

"And what about Nina? She practically killed Nina."

"Gail…"

"No Oliver," Gail huffed. "How do I explain this to Jade? She doesn't even sleep some nights and her sister is going to be out before she is eighteen good! I had to convince her that I could protect her from the gang…but now…I can't even put her sister in jail for long enough for her to be legal…" Gail rambled. "What am I going to do, Oliver?" Gail found a chair and plopped down.

"Just be honest with her, and let her know you will be there for her," Oliver suggested softly. "We're not perfect, Gail. We're cops and she's a teenager…she just needs to know that you are there for her."

"I know that we are not perfect, but why do I feel like such a failure?" Gail said leaning back and closing her eyes.

* * *

She had called and explained to Holly that she would be late home, but Gail still felt like she would end up in trouble someway. She had left work around five, and instead of being excited about heading home like she usually was, she had managed to wander most of the evening. She had even made it back to HER OWN apartment, which it was safe to say had been overtaken by all of Chris and Dov's things now that she spent every night over at Holly's. The move hadn't been official; it had just sort of happened naturally after the shooting.

One day she was sharing a place with Dov and Chris, and the next she had a make-shift ready-made family of her own. A family that she obviously didn't deserve sometimes and it seemed she couldn't even protect. This was why now she stood at Jade's door looking at the kid sleep peacefully. Gail didn't think she could feel much guiltier if she had tried. Jade had willingly trusted her, even after she had gotten her shot the first time. When Holly petitioned the courts to let Jade live with her, the girl had only been excited because she knew that meant Gail was going to be a part of her life also. Jade had trusted her from the first moment they had met, even when Gail was a bit snarky, and now Gail couldn't even deliver on getting the person who shot her locked up for a good amount of time.

"I've never seen a teenager go to sleep before ten," Holly whispered, wrapping her arms around Gail and kissing her neck. Gail was so lost in thought, she didn't even hear her girlfriend come up behind her. "You are in awfully late." She could hear the pout in Holly's voice and turned to give her a proper kiss. "We saved some dinner for you," Holly smiled, closing Jade's door gently and leading Gail downstairs by the hand.

"Thanks," was all that Gail managed to mumble.

"Uh oh…what's the matter?" Holly said stopping and turning to look at Gail. She could tell, when those gorgeous blue eyes became glassy, a problem was brewing in Gail's mind.

"Nothing….just a long day, I guess," Gail said settling on the couch and pulling Holly down beside her. She knew this answer wouldn't suffice, but it was really all she wanted to say at the moment. The thought of her being a failure was truly washing over in waves and the feeling was familiar, yet still nauseating. She had been a failure in one way or another all of her life, at least in her family and sometimes her friend's eyes, and she was finally getting it right. Now it was likely that both Holly and Jade would lose faith in her.

Holly gave it a moment before turning to Gail and softly saying, "Try again…" she knew her far too well to let her be that vague with what was bothering her. When Gail held stuff in, she tended to become destructive and she loved Gail way too much to want to contend with another deconstruction of their relationship.

"How was Jade's appointments?" Gail questioned trying to gently steer the subject elsewhere. The girl had had three appointments that day, none of which struck Gail as particular fun. She was supposed to have tried to make it to the appointment with the surgeon and eventually take Jade to her counseling appointment herself, but all of the wind was taken out of Gail's sails once she heard that Kiana would be free in less than three years.

"Her regular doctor's appointment was fine, her diabetes is actually well controlled right now," Holly always led with the positive first. "She said that Jade is doing a very good job of getting the foods she needs." Gail knew that this was mostly thanks to the fact that Holly and Jade grocery shopped together and took careful records of Jade's meals, when she ate and her activities. Those types of things came so naturally to Holly; hell, if it were just Jade and Gail, they would have probably lived off of donuts and Doritos.

"That's because of you, babe," Gail smiled. "All the terrible fruits and vegetables and fresh crap you make us eat. How about her other appointments?"

"Not so great," Holly sighed. "The surgeon feels that maybe Jade has hit her plateau with her shoulder healing. She only has 65% or range of motion and the trembling and pain may be a lasting effect of where the bullet was lodge and the fact that it wasn't a thru-in-thru bullet wound. He said he'd be surprised if she actually got full strength back in her hand."

"That's her dominate hand, Holly," Gail shook her head in disbelief. "Are they sure that it's just not taking longer to heal."

"We asked that…he said looking at her x-rays, he's almost sure the nerve that was hit is fully healed now and this is what she's left with…."

"Well how did Jade take that," Gail asked covering her eyes trying to fight off a mounting headache.

"A lot better than her counseling session," Holly said laying her head on Gail's shoulder. "She won't talk to the woman, honey."

"That's because the woman asks stupid questions like, 'how do you feel about being shot by your sister?' What is she is supposed to say… 'Super?' I know all too well how terrible counseling can be." Gail became quiet as Holly just stared at her for a moment. After a while, she peered at Holly, "What?" she asked innocently. She rarely talked about the time when she went to a therapist, but she was more than willing to defend Jade's apprehension over the process.

"Nothing, I just love you so much," Holly smiled leaning in to kiss Gail. Gail closed her eyes, letting the electrifying sensation of Holly's lips being on hers wash over her. She prayed that feeling of wonder never went away when she kissed Holly, or when she heard Holly proclaim her love. "Now, tell me, what had you upset before?" Holly requested dropping a tender kiss on Gail's neck.

"Why talk about it…this is leading somewhere much more fun," Gail said as a small smile cracked her lips.

"Tell me," Holly requested again.

"Kiana Reyes took a plea deal. She's only going to get a seven year sentence and with good behavior, she'll likely be out in three years," Gail said so quickly she doubted Holly got all of the information.

"What do you mean, just three years? She tried to KILL Jade and you!" Holly was not normally enraged, but this was the only way to describe the feeling coursing through her body right now. She pulled away from Gail and ran her fingers through her long brunette hair. "How does that even work?" she asked shakily.

"No priors, and they don't consider what she did to Jade as attempted-murder," Gail answered sadly. "Baby, I don't know…I just know that before Jade is even 18, this woman may be back on the streets. How do I explain that to her? That I can't protect her?"

"Jade is a very smart kid, Gail. She knows this isn't your fault," Holly replied quickly. "Plus, she knows she's safe with us."

"But how can she know that, Hol?" Gail let out a harsh breath of frustration. "A couple of hours after meeting me, she took three bullets because I MADE Steve pick up Alex Ortiz. Not to mention that now she has more complication. I've been a disaster in this girl's life."

"Really…do you really believe that?"

"Holly…what if she wanted to be a surgeon herself and now she can barely even hold a fork some days? I just get so tired of feeling like everything I touch is doomed sometimes."

"Jade is definitely not doomed. She's brilliant and funny and kind and so smart and she probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, Gail. That's not something to take lightly…and she's protected and feels safe with us."

"What if her sister comes after her?"

"She'll have to get through us," Holly responded cockily.

Gail stood up and held her hand out to Holly. When Holly laced her fingers with her own, Gail couldn't help but feel a sense of calmness wash over her. "You know, I really love how you take care of us and don't let me spin of control."

Holly's mouth covered Gail's. "Stop talking," she murmured. "Let's go upstairs and hop in the shower…"

"I took a shower before I left the station," Gail said against Holly's mouth.

"I really wasn't planning on getting you clean," Holly smiled devilishly.

* * *

"She didn't even tell me she had applied there…" Gail frowned looking down large envelope in front of her. She and Holly were out of the shower and now Holly was heating up some dinner for her. "What is wrong with the University of Toronto?"

Holly looked at Gail sadly, hating how much angst this package was causing Gail. "MIT has the program she wants to study in," Holly explained.

"She's fifteen and not even fully healed," Gail rationalized. "She's too young to go to the States alone."

"She was going to do that before all of this happened. Gail, you said it yourself, this was temporary."

"So you want her to go?" Gail asked defensively.

Holly put a plate in front of Gail and shook her head. "I want her to thrive though. She's not being challenged…"

"Just because she's smart doesn't mean she's not being challenged."

"I've talked to her about it Gail…she's not being challenged."

"So a thousand miles away from us is challenging?" Gail said pushing her plate away. Her appetite was absolutely gone now. "We were just starting to feel normal, Holly."

"What does that mean?" Holly questioned taking a sip of wine. She had an idea what that meant, but she wasn't for sure. When Gail wouldn't answer, Holly shook her head. "She won't go without your blessing, Gail. She doesn't want to disappoint you."

"She could never disappoint me, Hol."

"She doesn't know that, Gail. She's fifteen…she spends her life trying to hide that she cares a lot about what people think of her. If you show any signs of not wanting her to MIT, she will turn it down and just mill around her."

"I do want her to stay," Gail explained. "What's wrong with her going to University of Toronto and you said something about getting her internship…."

Holly finished her glass of wine. "It's not the same..." she leaned over the counter and kissed Gail tender. "I'm going to bed…I love you."

"I love you too…I'll be up in a minute," Gail said opening the brochure sent by MIT. She didn't know she could hate a college so much, but MIT had proved to her that she could. She sat with the brochure for nearly an hour before she allowed the thoughts buzzing through her head to settle and heading up to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy and feel free to review and comment! :)**

Saying Something

"What fresh hell is this?" Jade questioned as Holly pulled a green concoction into the glass in front of her.

"Try it before you knock it," Holly laughed teasingly. "I'm having the same thing so don't whine."

"Is Gail having this?" Jade asked skeptically. If she knew nothing else, she knew Gail was not going to have a green breakfast smoothie under any circumstances.

Holly shrugged. Strawberries, spinach, kale, cucumbers and grapes blended together made a healthy and sweet breakfast smoothie. Of course, Gail would hear no such thing and most of the time she had Jade to back her up. Although Jade was a diabetic, she would have much rather had donuts for breakfast with Gail than healthy smoothies with Holly. Holly watched as Jade took a sip. "Not bad right?" she questioned smiling. Jade returned the smile and laughed.

"Just don't tell, Gail," she whispered.

"Tell Gail what?" Gail asked yawning although she had slept a good seven hours.

"That my smoothies are good," Holly said taking a sip of her drink. She offered the glass to Gail who turned her nose up at the concoction.

"Babe, I know you got me donuts," Gail said opening the pantry door. She saw what she was looking for and pulled out her donuts. "Now I just need my coffee…"

"You were super late getting home last night," Jade accused as soon as Gail had poured her cup of coffee. Holly looked from Jade to Gail and backed away a bit. Jade and Gail did this from time to time…confronted each other on their behaviors and it was a lot more cathartic if they had it out alone.

"I got caught up at work," Gail stated. She took a bite of her donut and waited for Jade to continue. She was used to Jade now and knew that she was only combative when her feelings were hurt. Gail took it easily; she understood the process all too well.

"You just didn't want to come to my appointments," Jade countered quickly. She hopped off of the stool she was sitting on in the kitchen and picked up her drink to head to the living room.

"Hey…wait," Gail said firmly and the girl stopped. "That's not true…"

"Yeah right…why would you want to go to my appointments with me?" Jade said sarcastically. Gail had never realized how annoying sarcasm was until she lived with Jade for a couple of weeks. "Well, I'm still weak and probably never going to heal properly," Jade informed her. Gail could see the pain and disappointment in the girl's eyes. "It's not fair…"

"What's not fair?" Gail asked quietly.

"She could have shot me anywhere…anywhere would have been better."

Gail shook her head furiously. "That's not true. It was terrible enough what she did…if she would have hit you anywhere else I would have lost you…" Gail allowed her words to trail off. Every time she thought about the kid almost dying and the fact Kiana was going to be out in so short of time; it made her blood boil. "I know that it sucks…it all sucks, but you are alive and brilliant, you'll figure it out," she promised solemnly.

"I'm not brilliant," Jade shook her head sadly. "If I were so smart, I wouldn't have gotten shot at all. I would have killed …"

"Hey, that's not even funny," Gail said sharply. "You're not a murderer…"

"Yeah, you are right…I'm nothing," Jade said. She looked at Holly. "I'm going back upstairs."

Holly looked at Gail and then nodded. Jade disappeared up the stairs and they could hear the bedroom door close. Gail struggled to hold back her emotions as she leaned on the counter. Teenagers were moody and rude and just horrible sometimes, but Gail absolutely understood why with Jade. She was hurting still and Gail knew that telling her about Kiana right now would only make it worse.

"You okay?" Holly came up beside her girlfriend. "She doesn't mean it…"

"I know…but how do I tell her about Kiana?" Gail took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She turned and pulled Holly into a hug. "I feel like a failure."

"Baby, you are not a failure," Holly said against Gail's cheek. "She doesn't want to seem weak in front of you…"

"Should I go up and talk to her?" Gail tried but there was no doubt that she was out of her depth sometimes with Jade.

Holly pulled back. "No," Holly shook her head. "Just give her some time…she'll be fine. I'm taking her to a Blue Jays game later, do you want to come?"

"Baseball is terrible, babe," Gail smiled. She bounced on her tip toes and kissed Holly a few times. "Thank you."

"Hey, we are in this together right?" Holly smiled that perfect smile that Gail couldn't get enough of.

Gail sighed, what she had done to deserve someone like Holly. Although Holly always told her that she was the lucky one, Gail knew that was more talk than anything. "What is going to happen if Jade goes to MIT?"

"What do you mean?" Holly asked pulling away.

"I mean….sometimes I feel like she is kinda keeping us together. You know…just humming along and if she leaves…and it's just us…I'm liable to screw something up."

Holly shook her head. "You aren't going to screw anything up," Holly said as if she knew for sure. She kissed Gail quickly. "Jade is not holding us together, Gail. I love you deeply and you love me…we're just good together."

Gail wanted this to quash her fears, but for some reason, it really didn't. "Okay," she said though and nodded. Holly could feel that Gail didn't fully believe her.

"Let me make you breakfast…a real breakfast," Holly suggested. She didn't know what else to do besides just show Gail how much she loved her.

"Holly…donuts are a real breakfast," Gail shook her head at the insanity of thinking that donuts weren't a real breakfast. "Hey… can you tell me what MIT has that we don't have here in Toronto?"

"We discussed this last night in bed…" Holly reminded her. Once her eyes locked with Gail's she couldn't help but blush.

"Was that before or after you…?"

Holly put both of her hands over Gail's mouth. "Don't you dare finish that sentence."

"Oh, so now you are shy?" Gail laughed once Holly moved her hands. Holly couldn't help but giggle. "What time is the game tonight?"

"It starts at 3:30; are you coming?"

"Absolutely not…I just wanted to make sure I had something to do while you two are gone," Gail smirked.

Holly's rolled her eyes. "One day you are going to enjoy a good ball game…"

Gail couldn't help laughing out loud. "I'm pretty sure you all but messed up the 'ball' game for me."

Holly thought about it for a minute and then shook her head, wishing she didn't find it as funny as she did.

* * *

"Can you please check your blood sugar BEFORE the game…because you are going to want popcorn and peanuts and hotdogs…."

"Oh and nachos," Jade said smiling as Holly named off foods. "Why do you get the best seats for the game?" she asked pulling out her kit.

"Because no one goes to Blue Jays games and I get a discount from work," Holly assured her.

"Where is Gail? Is she coming too?"

"Do you want her to come?" Holly asked looking as Jade turned the monitor to her. "83…awesome," Holly smiled at the results. "Your blood sugar has been really good lately."

"Yeah, I feel a lot better," Jade admitted. "Gail is pissed at me, is that why she left a couple of hours ago?"

"Nah, she got a call from the office; had to run in for a while."

"About Kiana, right? She's going to plea isn't she? She doesn't have the nerves for an actual trial. She doesn't like taking chances. What is she getting, fourteen or fifteen years?"

Holly thought about it for a moment and she truly wanted to lie to protect Jade; but Jade could spot a lie a mile away. "She's going to plea, yes," Holly said fidgeting with her glasses and then heading into the living room. "If we don't leave soon…"

"How long?" Jade interrupted as she packed some insulin just in case.

Holly shrugged. "Not sure," she said softly. "You can ask Gail when she gets back; but if we don't go now we'll be late…"

Jade looked at Holly skeptically, but decided not to push it. She might as well enjoy a nice baseball game before hearing when her sister would release hell on her again.

* * *

"I'm not talking to her," Gail said vehemently. "I'll kill her if I'm in the same room with her. And I'm not talking about that cute 'oh, I'll kill her,' I mean I'll stop her heart," Gail promised. Just thinking about seeing Kiana Reyes made her sick to her stomach. Thinking about the hours of rehab Jade had already been through and the hours more she would probably have to face; all because of that coward.

"She's insisting, before her plea, Gail," Oliver explained gently. "She wants to talk to you, exclusively."

"I left my family for this, Oliver?" Gail asked with frustration. "I rarely get a day with them and then you interrupt that day."

"Have you told Jade about the plea deal, Gail?" Oliver asked calmly. The look on Gail's face was all the answer he needed. "What could she want to tell you, darlin'?"

"If I go in there to meet with her; all she is going to be able to tell me is how her face feels on a metal table…" Gail sighed. Kiana Reyes was becoming more trouble than she was worth. "Can I go now?" Oliver nodded and Gail headed out of his office and stopped when she saw her brother looking at a web chart. "What are you doing here on a weekend?" Gail asked leaning her head inside the room. Steve had been very diligent about not working much on the weekends since he and Traci had gotten back together. He focused on family time now and that was what his weekends were reserved for these days.

"There is an influx of heroin on the street these days," he said absently looking at the board.

"From the Brixton crew?" Gail questioned. She didn't want to be interested in these kind of things, but since Jade had moved in with her and Holly, knowing about the influx of drugs on the street was need to know. Gail had the uneasy feeling that anything the Brixton crew did now could touch and harm Jade and she wasn't going to allow it.

"No… this is no major gang, but no one moves this much drug without having some backing behind him," Steve said turning to look at his sister. "At least he has clout, but the Brixton crew really slowed down after Kiana Reyes has been gone. They have been doing a lot more guns and a lot less drugs lately."

"So she was the puppet master behind their drug operation…"

"Yeah, I'm beginning to believe that." Steve starred at Gail for a moment, a bit unsure if he should ask the next question. "Do you think Jade has any idea how her sister became a master drug mover?"

Gail cut her eyes at her big brother. "Would you ask Leo where Dex got his gambling habits?"

"He's a kid, Gail…"

"She's a kid too…my kid right now… don't mess with her…" Gail warned.

"Gail, you don't think Jade knows more than any of us? Just let me ask her a few questions."

"Let me get this right, you want my kid, who got shot for telling me something that we botched, to come in here and tell you how the person that shot her, learned how to move drugs? Doesn't sound insane to you?"

"Gail, the more drugs that's on the streets, the more unsafe we all are…"

"Then do your job, Steve!" Gail barked right as her phone began to vibrate on her hip. Gail looked at the number and took a deep breath. "I'm supposed to be at a game with my family…" she turned to leave.

"Gail…it's not out of line to ask for Jade's help…" but he realized she wasn't listening when she placed the phone to her ear.

* * *

Gail had been successful at batting a thousand at pissing Holly off tonight. It wasn't intentional and although she wanted to make it to the game on time, she was nearly an hour late after coming from the police station. If that wasn't enough, she was preoccupied or lost in thought through the entire portion of the game that she was present. Both Holly and Jade had recognized as much, but they were still excited that she had showed up.

Of course, that enthusiasm had waned a bit by the time they made it back home and Jade went to bed; well at least for Holly. She had tried and tried to get Gail to open up about what was bothering her, but she was brushed off each time. Finally, Holly went to bed also and left Gail with her favorite bottle of bourbon. It was nearly one in the morning when Gail finally came to bed, a bit loaded and heady. She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment and then stripped off of her clothes and slipped into the bed beside her girlfriend.

"Hol," she whispered. She placed a hand under her girlfriend's tank top and ran it up and down Holly's taunt stomach.

"Hmmm…Gail," she moaned gently. Holly didn't want to battle Gail tonight, but she wanted to know what was on her mind. She only drank heavily when upset, but Holly wanted her to talk to her instead of drinking. "You're drunk…"

"I'm not," Gail promised, kissing Holly's neck. She was a bit loaded, but she knew exactly what she was doing. Being in Holly's arms would wipe her brain from the frustration and madness of Kiana Reyes and Steve wanting to "pick Jade's brain." She moved her mouth over Holly's and waited for Holly to accept her tongue in her mouth. "I love you," she said moving away from Holly.

Holly ran her hand down Gail's body. "Talk to me then…"

Gail repositioned her body over Holly's, "I wanna make love to you," she said dipping back in for another passionate kiss. She gave Holly enough space to sit up.

"Not like this," Holly said softly. She loved Gail so damn much, but she refused to make love to her when she was half-drunk and sad.

"You don't want me," Gail said pulling back a bit. It felt like Holly had smacked her in the face. This was how she could communicate the best right now and she desperately wanted Holly to accept that.

"Stop," Holly said pulling her back into her and holding her tightly. "There is never a time I don't want you, Gail. I just need you to be open and not try to gloss over whatever is bothering you with sex. Baby, talk to me, please." Holly kissed her forehead, her nose and eventually Gail's mouth, gently running her tongue along Gail's lower lip. "There is nothing you can tell me that is going to make me not love you…"

Gail's blue eyes pierced Holly's brown ones for a moment. Gail could feel the tears well up in her eyes as she thought about her next words. "Kiana Reyes wants to see me…"

Holly was quiet for a moment before her hands went instinctively to where Gail still had a mark from the gunshot. She didn't even want to think about the bruises on Jade. "No," she said solemnly. "You aren't going anywhere near that monster."

"What if she knows something I need to know to protect Jade?" Gail questioned.

"Baby, we are protecting her just fine," Holly reminded her. She moved away from Gail and swung her legs to the side of the bed. "Is this what Oliver wanted?"

"Yeah," Gail said rubbing Holly's back. "I don't know what to do, Holly. I have to protect you both." When Holly didn't reply, Gail continued. "And Steve wants Jade to tell him what she knows about how Kiana learned to move drugs."

"No…no…she barely sleeps now," Holly turned back to Gail. "What will happen if we hash up memories from her past about the person who shot her?"

"Babe, I know," Gail agreed. "I said no! I just feel like the world is closing in on us all at once," she admitted.

Holly leaned back down in bed and pulled Gail down beside her, just holding her for a minute. "What are we going to do?" Holly asked finally.

Gail looked at her with soft, but unsure eyes. It felt great that it was an "us" instead of just Gail on an island, but she was still in-charge of this decision. "I don't know yet…wait it out? Maybe something will make sense later…" Holly pulled her closer and Gail settled her head against her breast. "It's so scary; it feels like it's all crumbling, Holly."

"I'm right here with you, Gail. I'm right here," Holly said kissing her forehead. "Nothing is crumbling." Gail closed her eyes, wishing more than ever that Holly's words were gospel.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I would just like to personally thank everyone who has been leaving reviews and comments. It really helps me to continue my story knowing that people are enjoying them! Thank you all so much!**

**As always, I own nothing, and please enjoy and feel free to comment and review. **

Late Nights

The mornings of Jade waking up naturally were few and far between. On most occasions, when she was able to fall asleep at a decent hour, she was ripped unceremoniously from her slumber by one of three nightmares. The first and most frequent nightmare was of her being shot. Now this dream, because it was so frequent and common to her at this point, usually allowed her to roll over and open her eyes, focusing just enough for her not to panic. She could handle this nightmare; well, it made her wounds ache from the thought, but the pain had never really gone away to begin with. She could deal with this nightmare. The second nightmare was of the day her mother dropped her off with Kiana. This nightmare played out in many different fashions, but none were really quite that frightening, just unnerving and although it was difficult, Jade could and would sleep through these dreams.

Unfortunately, neither of these dreams showed up tonight and Jade was ripped awake by the sudden and intense feeling that she was teetering on the precipice of her sanity. She had managed to keep herself from screaming this time; a few times before she had the misfortunate of screaming out and either Holly or Gail had ended up at her door. Oh, how embarrassing that had ended up being. She was nearly sixteen and having full blown nightmares like a six year old. But no, this time she had caught herself and instead of screaming, just bolted up straight in her bed with a mixture of sweat and tears streaming down her cheeks and pooling near the base of her neck. She ran her weak hand across the scar of where her surgery had begun and shook her head furiously. _When was this shit going to stop! _

She was trembling, which her common sense told her could be from the fear of her dream or erratic blood sugar that seemed to plague her some nights. She moved back until her back felt the headboard and shuttered, searching her nightstand for the lamp. When the light was on and her eyes fully focused, she picked up the quick-kit that was always there and the bottle of orange that Holly had insisted she keep there in case of these episodes. She pricked her finger expertly and placed the drop of blood on the awaiting strip. In a few moment, 53 popped up on the screen, and Jade moved a shaky hand to grab the bottle of orange on the nightstand. Taking a quick few swallows, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and took a few deep breaths. _What in the hell was wrong with her?_ It was so embarrassing, waking up like a frightened child even when only she knew about it. She wiped her eyes furiously. She wasn't a damn child anymore. Hell, she was stronger when she was a child, because at least then she could keep it together enough not to let Nina know what was going on.

Jade looked over her shoulder to the other side of the full sized bed and tried to stop the tears that were pooling near her eyelids now. She and Nina had shared a bed until four months ago…and now Nina was in a coffin, all because Jade had been too preoccupied to protect her. She cocked her head back slightly and wished to God she had somehow been a better sister, or hell, just a better person in general. Her invention had gotten three people killed and Gail shot. She couldn't for the life of her understand why Gail or Holly for that matter, wanted her anywhere around; even her own sister had wanted her dead. And perhaps that's where she deserved to be…hell, Nina didn't get to live and all she had done was swallow one of her faulty devices. She had literally been shot and walked away from it. _How in the hell was that fair?_ The mere thought of being shot made Jade tense up and her wounds throb mercilessly. The only thing that ever helped that was a nice cool shower…Jade didn't really understand why, but it always worked. So at nearly two o'clock in the morning, she made her way into her bathroom and turned on the cool water, praying that it would at least stop the pain in her shoulder, even if it didn't quell the misery floating around in her head.

* * *

Gail didn't know what exactly woke her; the sound of water running down the hall or the slight pounding of her head. Was it possible to get a blaring headache while she was sleeping? She felt Holly's body wrapped around hers and even though she had a headache, this was one hell of a way to wake up. Gail debated for a moment if she wanted to check on the sound of water running down the hall, or revel in the amazing feel of Holly's leg wrapped around her midsection. After a few quick and longing breaths, Gail decided that the former was probably more necessary; hell, it was nearly two in the morning and that almost positively meant a nightmare.

She disentangled her and Holly's body as gently as possible and waited until Holly turned on her other side before fully sitting up in bed. In the darkened room it was nearly impossible to find her shorts and tank top that were tangled within the sheets and comfortable on the bed. However, when she had found and slipped them on, she headed out of the bedroom door as quietly as possible.

The water had quit running at this point and just as Gail entered the hallway, Jade was exiting the bathroom. "Sorry, did I wake you?" the girl asked sadly. Gail could tell from her eyes that she had been crying, but Jade straightened her back and tried to manufacture a smile.

"Nah," Gail lied, she rubbed her flat stomach and smiled. "I was actually starving, join me for a late night snack." It wasn't that big of a lie; Gail was always starving and it seemed to be enough of an excuse for Jade to follow her downstairs and into the kitchen. Gail opened the cabinets and rifled through the contents. "You two have way too much healthy food," she said turning back to Jade, who was leaning uncomfortably against the marble countertop. "Barely any chips or popcorn or chocolate or anything," she continued to talk until she found some chips at the back of the cabinet. She pulled them out, "You want anything?"

"I just had orange juice," Jade mumbled looking down at the floor.

"That's not a snack," Gail frowned. She opened the fridge and pulled a bowl of grapes. "You like your grapes cold?" Gail shook her head.

"Holly said they last longer that way," Jade laughed a bit. She took a few and popped them into her mouth, while Gail opened her bag of chips. "What was getting on your nerves earlier tonight? Besides me…"

Gail crunched down on some chips. "You do not get on my nerves…nearly as much as other people…so you're good." A silence fell between them as Gail nearly polished off her bag of chips and Jade plucked at the grapes. "Were you in pain tonight? You kept rubbing your shoulder…"

"I'm always in pain…but yeah, the shoulder hurts more than anything. It's a gnawing pain and the whole arm is weak and it is never going to get better." Jade paused for a while before stating, "Holly said Kiana is going to plea… how long is she going to get?"

Gail closed her eyes. She didn't want to be honest with Jade because in this case, honesty really sucked. Still, she watched Jade for a moment. "Seven years," she finally whispered.

"For two attempted murders?" Jade questioned not fully comprehending what Gail was saying.

"They aren't going to charge her with attempted murder for you, Jade. They're saying self-defense. She is getting five years for me, and two years for gun charges."

Jade stopped leaning against the counter and turned to fully look at Gail. "She'll be out in less than four years," there was a tremble in Jade's already weakened voice.

Gail rung the back of her neck anxiously. This was her fault, the least she could do was admit that to the girl. "This is my fault Jade…"

"It's not your fault," Jade shook her head vehemently. "It's my fault…because I pulled a gun on her and wasn't brave enough to use it."

"You'd be detained right now if you would have shot her…"

"Yeah, but at least she'd be dead…" Jade said quickly. "And I wouldn't in pain or scared to death, having nightmares every night!"

"You're still having nightmares?" Gail questioned with more concerned than she had for most things. Jade looked away with embarrassment and headed into the living room. "Jade, did you have a nightmare tonight."

"It's not important."

"It's important to me," Gail said seriously. "What was your nightmare about?"

Jade settled on the couch and looked up at Gail, who was now generally pacing the living room floor. "It's not easy to talk to you when you're pacing," Jade noted. She stopped, and settled at the other edge of the couch. "I dreamt about Nina…" she said softly, quickly flicking away a tear that had escaped. "We were kids, just playing outside and I just wanted to be alone, so I ran away from her and she was chasing me, laughing and smiling, like always…but then I don't hear her laugh and I turn around and she's gone. I looked and looked for her …and eventually I saw the casket…" Jade couldn't finished, so she pulled her knees to her chest and balanced her chin on her knees. "I got accepted to MIT…" she changed the subject quickly.

Gail looked tried to bite back her own tears, but was failing miserably. "I heard… why didn't you tell me sooner?" but that was a futile question, because the likely answer was, because she had been behaving like a distant bitch to both Jade and Holly the entire day.

Jade smirked, "because I'm not going," the girl admitted. "I don't sleep Gail…I cry myself to sleep most nights, and when I do manage to go to sleep, I wake myself up in tears. If I didn't know that you and Holly were down the hall…"

"Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Holly is a doctor…she was so excited when we opened that letter. It's MIT and kids like me don't get into schools like that…she was so proud and you…I can only imagine how much you don't want to worry about the teenage brat anymore…but I'm too scared to even go to sleep at night…"

Gail pulled the girl into a tight hug. "Hey…" she whispered. "I would never want you gone and Holly and I are never going to be anything but proud of you," she promised. "We love you and you are welcome here." Gail just held the girl for a while.

"My sister tried to kill me and I was successful at killing my little sister…"

"You didn't kill Nina…you can't control what happens to other people…"

"Just like you can't control how much time Kiana gets," Jade countered leaning hear head back on the couch and closing her eyes. "What am I going to do Gail…I can't even sleep."

"Sweetheart, talk to the therapist. It's not the most fun thing…trust me, I know. But it's effective."

"You've been to a therapist?" Kiana questioned now looking at Gail.

"A lot of bad things happened very close together and a therapist helped sort them out," Gail nodded. She felt Jade put her head on her shoulder. "Sometime you have to let the process work, Jade."

"Three years for shooting us both doesn't seem fair, Gail," Jade said hell bent on changing the subject off of therapy.

"Jade, Kiana wants to talk to me before she signs her plea deal," Gail admitted reluctantly. She felt Jade's head bounce up from her shoulder. She could feel the girl's eyes as they bore into her. "I don't want to meet with her…but that's what she wants." When Jade didn't say anything, Gail leaned forward at clicked on the television. White noise was better than the eerie silence that had fell between them. She flipped through the channels and settled on an old 80s movie. "Return of the Swamp Thing," she smiled gently nudging Jade. The girl couldn't help but smile too.

"I've never heard of that…it's like twenty years before my time…:

"Twenty years…twenty years…really Jade?" Gail managed to tease. She had been around three when the movie came out, but she could still remember Steve watching it endlessly.

"Gail," Jade's voice had that serious glint to it, "Kiana wouldn't want to see you for no reason. If she has something to tell you …it's important and likely devious."

"So you would go?" Gail asked, her blue eyes searching the girl's brown ones.

Jade put her head back on Gail's shoulder. "It's a lot better to know what Kiana is up to than not."

Gail nodded her understanding. "Well, we aren't going to worry about that right now," she decided. "We're going to watch Swamp Thing…" Jade yawned, but tried to perk up, because she was still a little scared to go to sleep. "Hey…go to sleep…I'll be right here." Gail promised her and soon the girl had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Gail had retired back to bed after Jade woke up that morning. It was well after two that afternoon when she finally descended the stairs the next day.

"Oh, so you are finally awake?" Holly said cocking her eyebrow as she watched Gail plop down beside her. She kissed her girlfriend and smiled. "So I get to wake up by myself and then you don't get up until two…you are becoming a terrible girlfriend."

"I was always a terrible girlfriend," Gail laughed. "You would have been so proud of us last night."

"And why is that? When I first got up you and Jade were on opposite sides of the couch snoring…should I be proud that you two can fit on the couch comfortably?" Holly said sarcastically.

"No," Gail said kissing Holly's neck. She sat back on the couch with a small smile crossing her lips. "We actually talked…like really talked." Holly smiled also. "Maybe I'm not as bad at this whole thing as I thought…" Gail got out before she heard Jade bouncing down the stairs.

"Holly does this match?" the girl had already gotten out before she saw Gail sitting on the edge of the couch.

"That looks great," Holly nodded at the blue and white skirt and light pink shirt that Jade had on.

"Nice," Jade smiled. "Do you think I could borrow a necklace or something? I don't have anything…"

"Sure, go upstairs and get something out of my jewelry box," Holly agreed. Jade turned to leave, but Gail stopped her.

"Hey...hey…where are you going?" she asked.

"The movies," Jade said a little too quickly.

"Wait…wait…wait…" Gail stopped her again. "Who else is going?"

Jade quickly glanced at Holly and then back to Gail. "A few people…" when Gail didn't break her gaze, Jade sighed. "Ricky, me…"

"Who the hell is Ricky?" Gail really didn't need to be told that this was some puberty ridden teenager that wanted to get Jade in a dark movie theater to…

"A friend," Jade replied simply.

"A friend…you care to be more thorough in your description?"

"He's just a guy I'm going to a movie with…" Jade huffed. "Can I finish getting dressed?"

After Jade disappeared up the stairs, Gail turned to Holly with a _what the hell_ look on her face. "It's a movie," Holly said plainly.

"Who the hell is this Ricky?"

"Some guy Jade met at college last semester…"

"A college student! She's is not going out with a college guy! She's fifteen!"

"She'll be sixteen next weekend and he's only seventeen himself. He worked at the college, he's still in his last year of high school," Holly explained. "And she's going to a day movie and lunch so it's barely a date."

"A dark movie theater, Holly…with a seventeen year old boy…what happens there, Holly?" Gail said thinking back to her teenage years. She shuttered at the mere thought.

"Would you like to keep her in a bubble?" Holly asked picking her medical journal back up and thumbing through the pages again.

"Yes," Gail smiled at the idea. Jade made it back down the stairs.

"How do I look?" she asked meekly.

Gail tightened her jaw, but Holly smiled. "Great…" she smiled. "Do you want a ride to the theater?"

"Donyelle and Chris are going to pick me up and then we are picking Ricky up," Jade explained.

"Donyelle Myer?" Gail asked recognizing the name. She was the daughter of one of the guys that worked in the homicide unit. She was a pretty good and quiet kid, but Gail still didn't like the situation.

"Yes, Donyelle Myer and Christopher Nixon and Richard Richmond…" Jade rolled her eyes.

"Do you have cash?" Holly asked looking up from her journal. Jade shook her head and Holly got up to get her bag.

"Listen, if anything out of the way happens, you call me IMMEDIATELY," Gail instructed.

Jade figured it would be easier to just agree with Gail. "Okay," she said taking two bills from Holly. "I think they are outside," Jade said opening the door. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, okay."

It took everything within Gail not to take down the license plate number of the car Jade left in. Instead Gail plopped down in a chair and folded her arms in front of her chest. Holly came over and sat on her girlfriend's lap. "Stop pouting," Holly said lifting her chin and kissing Gail slowly but passionately. "I love how protective you are of us…" she whispered in Gail's ear.

"You do, huh?" Gail said shifting a bit and rubbing her hands up and down Holly's back. "She's not going to MIT yet, ya know?" she informed Holly.

Holly frowned. "Why not?"

"She's not ready, baby," Gail said softly. "She's still having nightmares and she's just not ready. She doesn't want to disappoint us though."

"Well, whatever is best for her, Gail." Holly said leaning her head against Gail's. Holly outlined Gail's lips with her fingertip. "You still aren't telling me something…" Holly could see the angst in Gail's eyes.

"I told Jade about Kiana and she said Kiana wouldn't want to see me for no reason," she said softly.

"So you are going to see Kiana Reyes, the person who shot you and Jade?"

Gail threaded her fingers with Holly's. She didn't have to answer that question, because Holly knew that tomorrow morning, Gail would be talking to Kiana Reyes face to face.


	11. Chapter 11

The Mom Complex

Holly felt the alarm was about the ring even before the incessant buzzing began. She was wrapped in Gail's arms and although there was no place in the world she'd rather be, she knew it was important to get a good jump start on Monday mornings. Especially Monday mornings where Jade would be going to the University of Toronto to talk to an academic counselor about what summer session she would sign up for, and Gail would be going to visit the monster that is Kiana Reyes. At least Holly could be happy about one of those things…the fact that Jade had applied to U of T also and had been accepted was great, since she wasn't going to MIT right now.

"Stop moving," Holly could feel Gail's warm breath on the back of her neck. Gail hated Monday mornings more than almost anything and the fact that she had been cocooned in Holly's arms or vice versa the entire night, didn't make her want to lose this feeling of comfort.

"It's time to get up," Holly said sleepily. She reached over and killed her alarm; Gail never even cut hers on, and tried to sit up in bed. Gail did not intent to make it easy as she slung her leg over her girlfriend's body. "Gail, this is not playing fair…" Holly yawned. "You know I don't really want to get up either."

"Okay then don't," Gail said flopping on her back and closing her eyes.

"We have work today…" Holly reminded her. Gail still didn't move or open her eyes. Holly sighed and hopped up from bed, soliciting an exasperated moan from Gail. Holly pulled on her robe and tied the sash. "Babe, another thirty minutes…" she said as she headed towards the door. As if on cue, Gail pulled a pillow from under her head and tossed it at Holly, who caught it and tossed it back. "I'll be back in twenty minutes now," she promised.

Holly made her way down the hall and tapped on Jade's bedroom door. When no one answered, she opened the door and peeked in. As she expected, Jade was nowhere to be found. She was usually up before either Holly or Gail, so it wasn't surprising when Holly made it downstairs and Jade was already eating breakfast.

"Good morning," Holly smiled as she grabbed the box of cereal and poured herself a bowl. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh…" was Jade's only answer as she shrugged and redirected her attention back to the brochure in front of her. "I don't know which classes I should want to take," the girl said taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

"That's what the academic counselor is for," Holly reminded her. Holly saw Jade look up and frown. "Okay, what are you thinking about taking?" Holly said trying again.

"They have a robotic engineering session I want to take, but …it's going to be a lot of precision work and with my arm…"

"I'm sure a lot of that course is going to be coding and programing and when you are feeling your strongest, you can do your precision work then," Holly suggested easily. She watched as Jade let it sink in.

"Yeah, I could do that," Jade nodded. "And I really want to take the class."

Holly smiled. It was never very difficult to raise Jade's spirits, which Holly loved about her. "Then you should absolute take it," Holly encouraged easily. "So, what do you want for your birthday?"

"Birthday?" Jade said thinking about it for a minute. "Oh, yeah my birthday is Saturday," she laughed at the fact that she hadn't even thought about it. It was never really a big deal most of her life, so it was quite easy to forget now. "Nothing," she answered easily.

"What do you mean, nothing?" Holly said confused.

"Well," Jade said hopping down off of the barstool she was sitting on, "I never really celebrated it, Holly. I guess we could all have dinner or something…" she shrugged.

"Okay," Holly nodded. "I could make ravioli," she offered knowing that this was Jade's favorite.

"Yeah…and maybe cupcakes…" Jade's eyes began to get bigger. "I don't think I've ever had a cake or cupcakes for my birthday."

"Okay, but you have to help me with the cupcakes; I'm a terrible baker," Holly laughed.

"She is a terrible baker," Gail said rubbing her eyes as she came into the room. "I, on the other hand…"

"You don't bake," Jade and Holly agreed in unison.

"Hey…thanks for the vote of confidence," Gail laughed too.

"I'm gonna go get dressed," Jade said disappearing around the corner.

"We were talking about birthday plans," Holly filled Gail in. Gail smiled. "So far all she wants is dinner…and cupcakes."

"She's not difficult to please," Gail said looking through the pantry. She gave up her search for donuts and finally poured a bowl of cereal. "Can we get better cereal?"

"What is wrong with corn flakes?"

"Do I really need to answer that question," Gail stuck her tongue out. "What do you have planned for lunch today?"

"Nothing," Holly said stretching to crack her back. "What about you?"

"I was going to bring this really hot chick lunch, but now…"

"Oh…were you?" Holly grinned. "It's probably a good idea…"

"I don't know…people who insult my baking, don't get lunch."

"Well, people who tease me about lunch…don't get desert," Holly said cocking an eyebrow. Gail bit down on her lower lip knowing.

"Seems like you win," she conceded quickly.

"I'm going to get dressed," Holly giggled. She stopped and kissed Gail before saying, "Thanks for not making me come pull you out of bed."

"You'll be begging to pull me into bed later," Gail promised. Holly decided not to respond, instead letting the though wash over her for a minute before kissing Gail again and going back upstairs to get dressed. Gail finished her cereal and headed back upstairs just in time to see Holly pull on jeans. "Damn, I always miss the best part of the day," she said leaning against the closed door.

"I thought the best part was me undressing…" Holly said pulling her red shirt on.

"Behave, or we will both be super late," Gail warned.

"Are you going to see Kiana today?" Holly asked changing the subject from playful to serious in a matter of moments.

"I told Steve I would," Gail said heading into the master bathroom. Holly could hear the shower turn on. "Like ten minutes, then it's over," Gail explained.

"Is that why you are bringing me lunch?" Holly asked leaning against the door frame of the bathroom. Gail began stripping her clothes off. She knew that Gail wasn't going to answer. "Jade will kill me if we are running late," Holly said finally. "I love you," the words came so naturally that Gail couldn't help but smile when she heard them.

"Ten minutes, baby. That's it," Gail said softly. "I love you too." She kissed Holly quickly before jumping into the shower.

* * *

For some reason, it was virtually impossible for Gail to actually leave the house on time. It was always one thing or the other and she found herself making it to work just in time to change and make it into parade in the morning. But this morning was different. She had gotten up on time, had breakfast and seen Jade and Holly off and for once, she would actually arrive to work on time; or at least, that's what she thought when she opened the door to leave the apartment. However, as she turned around after the locking the door, the most terrifying face she had seen in a while appeared at the bottom of stairs.

"Mom," she nearly crocked. "Mom," she said again clearing her throat and speaking a bit louder this time. "I didn't know you …"

"Knew where you lived?" Elaine Peck asked easily.

"Yeah," Gail admitted.

Elaine looked up at the building. "It's not as if you have ever invited me over," her mother noted.

"Well…it's not as if you've ever wanted to come over," Gail countered. "What do I owe this pleasure, mom?"

"There are whispers about you meeting with the girl you shot, Kiana Reyes."

"The girl I shot?" Gail asked. "You mean the girl that shot her sister and me? Yes, she requested it"

"That can't happen Gail," Elaine said easily. "Get it out of your mind…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Gail, how do you think that will look? You talking to the girl that you shot just before she take a plea deal? It will have the appearance of tampering; and you do enough without those allegations floating around."

"I'm not tampering with anything, Mom. She has information that I may need…" Gail began but was cut off.

"I've said, no, Gail. Be happy that you didn't come up for review four months ago when you shot someone on your day off…" Gail ran her hand through her hair quickly. "Not to mention when your girlfriend took in the girl you got shot…just quit while you are ahead, okay."

"I didn't realize I was ahead," Gail said defiantly. Gail hated being told what to do and even more by her mother.

"Trust me, you are …very much ahead. You have Holly, who I can't understand…" Elaine stopped. It would only be hurtful to complete that sentence. "Listen, things are good for you…just drop the whole Kiana Reyes deal, okay?"

"If she has information about my kid that I need, I'm going to get it, Mom," Gail said firmly.

Elaine gritted her teeth trying to temper her anger. Gail was headstrong and hardheaded, which she had likely inherited from her, but it was still frustrating. "I need you not to do this," she said as calmly as possible.

"I can't do that, Inspector. Jade comes first and I'm assuming Kiana wouldn't want to talk to me for no reason…" Gail hopped down the stairs and moved towards her car.

"Gail…" Elaine began, "can you just please trust me on this…I will find out what she wants, but I want you to stay away from her."

"Can you at least tell me why?" Gail wanted to know.

"Can you just trust that you are MY kid and I want to protect you just as much as you want to protect Jade?" Elaine offered seriously. Gail didn't know what to say and for once, Elaine knew she had her daughter in a hitch.

"You've never really cared before," Gail said after a while. She knew this would shut her mother down for a while. When Elaine chose not to respond, Gail headed for her car and got in. Whatever her mother was trying to "protect" her from, wasn't as important as finding out what Kiana Reyes wanted.

* * *

"Are we actually going to try talking today, Erica Jade?" Dr. Pinkerton asked carefully. The girl had just arrived, but she had seen this attitude with her more than once.

Jade took a deep breath and frowned. "You should call me Jade. I hate being called Erica or Erica Jade…"

"Fair enough. Jade, do you plan on talking today?"

"What would you like me to talk about?" Jade asked carefully as she shifted on the couch.

"Tell me anything…" Dr. Pinkerton began, satisfied with the effort. "How about you tell me how things are going lately. How is your living arrangement?"

"It is good," Jade answer immediately. "I have my own room and my own bed."

"How is it with your guardian?"

"Holly is nice and Gail is awesome. They are easy to be around."

"Are you not accustomed to people that are easy to be around?" Dr. Pinkerton questioned.

Jade rubbed her shoulder uncomfortably. "Yeah, you could say that. Nina was smaller than me, well younger, but she was difficult, because she always wanted to please Kiana."

"And Kiana?"

"I don't think she was sadistic on purpose, but I just tried to stay out of her way. When she was mad, she was mad…"

"Did her anger frighten you?"

"Doesn't all anger frighten?" Jade questioned.

Dr. Pinkerton shook her head. "Has Holly or Gail ever been angry with you?"

"I think so …frustrated at least."

"Were you frightened by that?"

Jade thought about it for a moment. "Nah…I guess not. But I also don't assume they will kill me…and Kiana would…I mean hell she tried. She almost succeeded; shot me in the chest, the shoulder and neck…I almost died." Jade let the weight of that statement settle within her. "I almost died," she whispered again.

"Yes you did…" Dr. Pinkerton agreed slowly. "Why don't you think did?" That was the question that Jade had continuously asked herself over the past couple of months. She still didn't have an answer, so all she could do was shrug. "Well, that is something to think about, right?"

"I think about it a lot. I mean, I don't have family, I have very few friends and I'm not sure I can be what I wanted to be."

"And yet you still pulled through. What did you want to be?"

"Biomedical engineer," she answered smiling. "But sometimes I can't even hold an Erlenmeyer flask steadily anymore."

"Sometimes you have to adjust your goals, or change your process."

"That's what Gail said…let the process work…"

"Gail is very smart then," Dr. Pinkerton smiled.

"I think so too…she doesn't lie to me, or bullshit me, and I trust her."

"Was Gail there when you were shot?"

"Yes…she was and she and Holly were both there for my recovery."

"I guess you have friends after all...Well, our session is over for today, Jade. Next week, the same time?"

"Do I have another choice?" Jade actually smiled. For the first time in a long time, Jade felt safe and secure in her life. It was a strange feeling, but if talking to her therapist kept this feeling around, she would definitely talk to her therapist.

* * *

"I don't like this Oliver," Steve said in a hushed whisper.

"Does Gail care that you don't like it?" Oliver raised an eyebrow. They were on the other side of the glass, watching Gail wait patiently for Kiana Reyes to enter the room. Gail had come in that morning determined and ready to meet Kiana and since Oliver had told her about Kiana wanting to meet her, he felt personally responsible for the meeting.

"She never cares what I think," Steve said as the door on the other side of the wall opened up and Kiana came into the room. Both men became quiet and focused on what was happening in the other room.

Gail shifted a bit as Kiana took a seat across the table from her. Neither woman said anything at first, but it was Kiana who broke the intense quietness first. "I'm surprised you came…" she said nervously. "I assumed you wouldn't."

"I figured it must have been something important for you to request a sit-down with the person you SHOT…" Gail said quickly. Kiana recoiled a bit, which only frustrated Gail. She had no intentions of letting Kiana play the victim here; as if she had been harmed by shooting Gail and her little sister. "What do you want Kiana?"

"Prison is hell…and I'm going there for a very long time…" she began.

"Nowhere near long enough," Gail chirped in. "You deserve three times the time you are getting. You shot a kid…"

"She had a gun on me. You underestimate Jade…she would have shot me if you weren't there. She's no angel, but you really can't be growing up like us."

"I have a feeling that Jade didn't grow up like you, Kiana. She's no monster…went to private school for a while…really smart…probably made you a bit jealous…"

Kiana smirked. "You have it all wrong, Officer Peck. I went to private school too…was on my way to graduate second in my class, but my mother dropped two screaming kids off on my doorstep," she said through gritted teeth. "What was I supposed to do, turn them away?" Kiana could feel her anger rising. Jade was so damn "special," but only because Kiana had been nice enough to take her in! And then the nerve of the little bitch, at least Nina was grateful, but Jade was arrogant and that drove Kiana crazy. "Why would I be jealous of a little bitch like that?"

"You put three bullets in her…"

"And I would have done more, but…" Kiana stopped herself and sat back and smiled. "You took her in…you have a soft spot for Jade, and obviously she has one for you. Jade never listened to anyone…and then in one day, she's handing her gun to you when she had me on the ground. What I would have given for her to show me that type of devotion. She and I could have done a lot of things."

Gail swallowed the anger that was boiling from her stomach. "You shot your sister because she wouldn't became a horrible bitch like you? You pathetic idiot…"

It truly appeared that Kiana's eyes flashed red for a moment before she closed them. She took a comforting breath and reopened her eyes. "I may be a pathetic idiot, but I'm going to be safe, behind bars. Jade, on the other hand…well, that's another conversation entirely." When Gail failed to formulate a response quickly enough, Kiana smiled at her won battle. "What does your mother do for a living, Officer Peck? Don't even answer, I'm guessing she's a cop and your father is a cop and your brother…oh yeah, he's that nice detective that I met. You all went into the exact same line of work…it must be very rewarding."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gail asked becoming somewhat confused with where this conversation was going.

"My mother wasn't impressed with me enough to teach me the family line of work. She was a terrible woman…that's why when she dropped those kids off with me…I was happy for them. They would have been better off with me…."

"And then you started transporting drugs and killed one by accident and tried to kill the other one on purpose…" Gail said slamming her fist down on the table in front of them.

"You are going to wish I had succeed at killing Jade once our mother gets to her!" Kiana countered quickly.

Gail was stunned for a moment. "Jade's mother is dead…she told me so…" Gail wouldn't believe that Jade had lied to her.

"Do you think it is easier to tell an eight year old that her mother is dead or that she's just not wanted?" Kiana asked seriously. "I told Jade that to protect her. Our mother was nothing to get to know and her being "dead" was no real loss."

"So you told your little sisters that their mother was dead? You get worse by the second," Gail leaned back in her chair.

"Well, hate me all you like, but Mama's coming to get her baby…and she ain't leaving without her." Kiana stood, waiting for the guard to open the door. "Good luck with Mama, because if you think I'm evil…"

"Wait…who is your mother," Gail asked before Kiana had a chance to exit.

Kiana chuckled at the audacity of Gail to actually ask for a name. "Shame on you, Officer Peck. Giving out information like that will get me killed…LEGACY IS EVERYTHING…" and with that Kiana Reyes was lead out of the door, while Gail, Oliver, and Steve were left scratching their heads.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'll have to admit this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. I hope everyone who reads it, enjoys. As always, I own nothing, and reviews and comments are so very welcomed! **

Revelation Hangover

Holly had tasted the sadness on Gail's lips the night that she had met with her, so Holly decided not to even broach the subject of Kiana Reyes. But now, two days later, Holly could still feel the chill of Gail's cold shoulder when she came home that night. Holly and Jade had been home for hours; Jade intently reading her textbook, followed by her first module manuals as she was trying to "stay ahead of the game," as she put it to Holly. Holly could understand why Jade was so gifted now; not only was she observant, she was diligent in her coursework and focused in her pursuits. The kid was the type of person that could read or hear something once and remember it forever, but she used not only that gift, but her diligence to preserve her academic records.

Holly had been all too happy to let the girl study as she whipped up a quick meal. Holly had a strange appreciation for this time of day; when Gail still wasn't home, but on her way and when she and Jade both tried not to burst from anticipation of her arrival. Holly and Jade were good together; they were oddly alike in focus and demeanor, and Gail gave them a similar spark with her presence. This was why Holly instinctively knew how Jade felt about the slight shunning of Gail that they had been receiving the past couple of days. The girl had become quiet also, somewhat worried about what was the matter with Gail, but really wondering what she had done to piss off one of the only friends she had in the world. Holly had gone through the motions of trying to settle Jade's worries, but had come up quite feebly in the whole matter. It was almost impossible to assure Jade of something she wasn't sure of herself. She had no idea what was going through Gail's mind…if she had just gotten tired of the entire arrangement and was just looking for an out…or if something Kiana Reyes had said was so catastrophic that this situation was no longer worth the effort.

This was why Holly didn't know if it was fear or just an unwillingness to know that kept her quiet about Gail's personality change. Instead, she went along the day as if nothing was wrong or had changed. She got up in the morning, made sure Jade and Gail had breakfast, dropped Jade off at the University and went into long messy days of piled up bodies and cases that she'd rather not even approach, yet were wonderful distractions from the irking feeling in the pit of her stomach. On the now rare occasions that she did hear from her girlfriend throughout the day, she was excited, bubbly, and playful as usual; but when the time came for them to finally see one another, Holly couldn't ignore the veil of doubt and misery in her girlfriend's clear blue eyes.

"Is everything alright?" she finally broke down and asked. The surprised look on Gail's face told Holly that this wouldn't be easy. If Gail didn't know she was acting this way, it was going to be nearly impossible to figure out WHY she was acting this way.

"What do you mean?" Gail frowned deeply and let the fork slip out of her hand. "I'm just tired I guess," she tried to justify her mood.

"Okay," Holly said weakly, not wanting to push the subject. Her eyes travelled to Jade, who too was picking at her meal. "Are you done?" Holly asked the girl. Jade seemed to be relieved by the question and nodded her head furiously as she stood up from the table.

"Do you want me to get the dishes?" she asked just before she turned to leave. This garnered a tiny smile from Holly, who shook her head no and watched the girl disappear around the corner and up the stairs.

"I'll clean up down here, maybe you should just get some rest," Holly said trying not to be pushy or let her hurt feelings show. This reminded her of the days when she and Gail were estranged and Gail refused to reach out to her. Like those days, Holly was trying her best to stay busy, even if that was only doing dirty dishes or reading downstairs until Gail was asleep. At least in bed, Gail would find her warmth and cling to her at night; some sign that she wanted to be there was better than none.

"I can help too," Gail offered awkwardly, although Holly could tell she would much rather flee to the sanctity of their bedroom.

"I've got it," Holly insisted. For a moment, Gail stood there and watched her girlfriend clear the table and start the hot water for the dishes, but by the time Holly turned back around, she had disappeared up the stairs also.

* * *

"You look like hell," Dov said as compassionately as a comment like that could be said. He placed a cup of coffee on Gail's desk and then slide into his seat at the desk in front of hers. He expected a snappy retort and when he received none, he looked at Gail confusedly. "Nothing to say?"

"Oliver just told me I'm on the new undercover case…seven whole days of stakeouts…no going home…" Gail tried to stifle a yawn. She was furious. This assignment started tomorrow morning and took her through to next Thursday, which meant she would miss Jade's sixteenth birthday. She had sent the girl a quick text message saying that they had to talk, but there was no response as of yet. It wasn't enough that her new found information about Jade's mother had caused her to pull back a little, now Gail's job was actively getting in the way of her being a good guardian. "She is going to hate me," Gail murmured to herself more than to Dov.

"What's that?" Dov questioned, looking up from his computer.

"Nothing," Gail said closing her eyes to the light and harsh reality that she was ultimately screwed. She had been searching for anything that could identify Jade's mother. At least then she would appear to have the upper hand. A name, a picture, a face to attribute to the monster that Jade needed to steer clear of would at least provide some sanity for Gail. But so far, all she could come up with was that Kiana may or may not be telling the truth.

"Gail…" she could hear Dov say…she snapped back to reality for a brief second and opened her eyes to Dov squinting at her.

"Yes Dov," she answer sitting up straighter in her chair now. Her head throbbed and her will waivered from wanting to go straight home and curl up in bed and avoiding home like the black plague, because she was only bringing home disappointment tonight.

"How did you get on the undercover case? None of our division is on it…" Dov restated.

"Let's just say I poked the bear that is Elaine Peck and somehow my name ended up on a stakeout list," Gail said bitterly. Her mother was passive aggressive with the precision of a sniper. Since she had explicit told Gail to be thankful for what she had and leave Kiana Reyes alone, when this didn't happen, Elaine was determined to take her away from what she was grateful for, Holly and Jade. A week was really only a smack on the wrist as far as Elaine Peck was concerned. She could have made her daughter go under DEEP cover and then she could kiss her girlfriend and her new "kid" goodbye for six months. "One day I'm almost positive they are going to start calling passive aggressiveness the Elaine Peck Policy," Gail joked. Dov couldn't help but laugh.

Gail took a sip from the coffee mug in front of her and groaned. "It's cold," she told Dov.

"You let it sit there forever," he remind her. "And being on stakeout in the future doesn't exactly explain why you look like hell now…well as much like hell as you could look," he clarified.

"I'm not getting much sleep…"

"Holly keeping you awake at night," Dov's eyes shimmered a bit. He couldn't help but speak with enthusiasm when he talked about Holly…and Gail. Gail cut her eyes at him, which washed his grin away. "I mean…"

"I know what you mean, Dov and no…actually, I think Holly would be happy not to see me for a while. I've been a total pain in the ass."

"She doesn't not want to see you, Gail," Dov assured his friend. "She loves you too much. Why are you being a pain in the ass?"

Gail's phone buzzed on her desk and she quickly picked it up. **I'm almost positive I didn't do anything…** Gail shook her head at Jade's message but smiled.

**I didn't say you had…meet me for lunch? Campus café? **Gail texted back.

"I don't know why I'm being a pain in the ass," Gail admitted. "I just need to figure out who Jade's mom is …and quickly."

"I can pull her birth certificate…" Dov offered.

"Did that…the name on Kiana, Jade and Nina's birth certificates are all the same… Shoshana Mercer…"

"Okay, what's the problem?"

"Shoshana Mercer died three years before Jade was born," Gail explained.

"Wow, something is lying…" Dov frowned. "You want me to do some fishing…see what I can pull up?"

Gail's phone vibrated again. **Okay…but I really didn't do anything ****L**

**1:18…****J**

"Thanks, Dov," Gail said sincerely. "I'm going to lunch with Jade. I figure its best to break the stakeout news to her in person."

"And what about Holly?"

Gail scratched above her eyebrow. "It's never going to be best to bring it to her," she sighed putting on her coat and heading to the exit.

At 1:16 Gail found Jade sitting by herself in a booth at the café across the street from the university's main entrance. Jade never seemed bothered by other people being around, especially when she was reading, which she was doing at the moment. Jade had had her face buried in one book or the other the last three days and although Gail would have liked to contribute this to her summer session, it was likely she was just trying to avoid Gail's attitude.

"Did you order anything?" Gail asked sliding into the other side of the booth.

"Nah," Jade said without looking up.

Gail picked up the menu from the table and scanned it. "What do you think you want?" Gail questioned trying to break the ice a bit. She knew the cold shoulder well because she was used to giving it.

"They have really good tuna melts," Jade offered still not looking up.

"Is eye contact too much to ask for?" Gail questioned tossing the menu aside. Jade looked up from the book and twisted her mouth to the side. "How is your class going?" For some reason it hadn't occurred until that moment that she hadn't really asked Jade how her summer session was going.

"We have partners in class and since Haley is super smart, I'm trying to keep up with her," Jade admitted. "She is awesome at programming computers…so I have to bring the science or I'm useless. Why did you need to see me?"

Gail could hear the uncertainty crack in Jade's voice. "I got put on an undercover detail and I'm gonna miss your birthday…" Gail said.

Jade eyed Gail for a while before nodding. "Okay," she said returning her attention to her book.

"Okay…" Gail had to admit that her feelings were a bit hurt by this lack of reaction from the girl. "That's it?"

Jade's eyebrows furrowed together. "What did you expect?" she asked curiously.

"Anger…disappointment…"

"Oh…" Jade nodded. "I'm not going to be angry because you have to work," Jade said honestly. "I thought you wanted to get rid of me or something…" Gail didn't have to ask why the girl felt this way, but she did. "Because, you've been angry with me all week," Jade said honestly. "And I went to class and went to therapy and talked…"

"Jade, I haven't been angry with you," Gail said stopping the girl. "I've been busy at work…"

"Okay…" Jade dismissed the entire week. "When do you go…undercover," the girl whispered like it was a huge secret.

"Tonight is my last night home until next week," Gail explained. "I was thinking we could all go out to dinner to celebrate your birthday early."

"I can't…I'm watching Leo tonight, remember?"

Gail faintly remembered both Holly and Jade telling her about Traci asking Jade to keep Leo that night. She and Steve were both deep in a case and instead of having Dex complain about taking an extra day, she asked if Jade wouldn't mind watching him for the evening. Although Traci would likely be home by eleven, she offered Jade their empty bedroom so the kid didn't have to uproot herself in the middle of the night. Leo loved Jade and Jade loved the extra cash so it worked out perfectly. Plus it didn't hurt that Leo was an easy kid to watch and Jade could do most of her schoolwork while she was there.

"Oh yeah…" Gail said embarrassed that she had forgotten so quickly. "Well…another day, as soon as I'm back?"

"Sure," Jade agreed. She looked at her cell phone and groaned. "I kinda need to get back. Haley is always back early…"

"But you didn't eat…"

"I'll pick up a sandwich later." Jade noticed the guilty look on Gail's face. "Gail, there is a difference between having to work and not wanting to be home all together. I know you want to be there for my birthday, but you gotta work," Jade said understanding. She grabbed her books up and headed towards the door. Now if only Holly understood this easily, Gail sighed.

* * *

Holly stared at the selection of wines she had lining the countertop and grimaced at all the selections she had pulled out from the wine fridge. None seemed right for the occasion and Holly let out a harsh and frustrated breath. She heard the front door open and shut and Gail's keys hit the bowl on the table near the front door. "Holly," Gail called out, and when there was no answer from her, Gail made her way into the kitchen.

"I was hoping to be done before you got home," Holly frowned.

Gail leaned against the center island and eyed Holly strangely. "What's all this for?" she asked suspiciously. She already knew that her behavior over the past couple of days didn't warrant this type of focused devotion. She could smell the food on the stovetop and was ready to admit that it smelled delicious and there was nothing that could be said about the atmosphere other than it was amazing also. Holly had the lights dimmed and full place settings at the table, just for the two of them, while candles gave the room the perfect amount of light.

Holly sighed as the unimpressed tone of Gail's questioned drowned her. She had gotten off, picked both Jade and Leo up, dropped them off, stopped by the grocery store and hurried home to make this meal all before Gail got off from work. She wasn't expecting fireworks or anything, but she didn't expect Gail to be so blasé either. "It's for you," she said humbly after a few heavy moments passed. "I thought it would be nice for us…I don't know…it just feels like we've been far apart," she tried to explain. She turned back to the stove to turn down the pots and to shield Gail from the sight of her about to cry.

Seeing that her callous behavior was causing her girlfriend's misery, Gail attempted to redirect the question. "I didn't mean it like that, Hol," she fumbled. "I meant…" she didn't know what she meant so had no other choice than to let the words hang in the air. And that's where it all hung, four days of unsaid words and doubts on both of their parts. Gail wished it was easier to just unburden herself…to just tell Holly what was bothering her, but deep down inside, she knew that Holly deserved better than the uncomfortable fumbling of someone who didn't have it all figured out. On the other hand, Holly knew her patience was waning, and if nothing else, the person who was going to date Gail Peck need a mountain of pure patience to keep from failing in their relationship.

"I guess it was a stupid idea to try something like this on a Thursday," Holly tried a smile. "It's a bit much…"

"Holly no…" Gail stopped her. "Everything is beautiful. I just don't understand why …for me …"

"Gail, I know when something is bothering you," Holly said. "And you obviously don't want to talk about it right now…and that's okay. But I just want us to be together…be a team. I don't want you to feel like a cat in a tree…"

"I don't," Gail assured her. "What did you cook?" a slow smile crept across her face. She remembered to breathe again when Holly smiled too.

"Short ribs and polenta…and bread pudding for dessert."

"Wow…so we are alone tonight?"

"Yes…I picked Jade and Leo up and dropped them off…so we are all alone tonight."

Gail really wished she had the desire to capitalize on the atmosphere, but something pinned her to the other side of island in the middle of the kitchen. Luckily, Holly didn't seem to mind as she checked the food once again. "So, how was work?" she questioned easily removing one pot from the direct heat and then checking on something in the oven.

"Pretty standard," Gail tried to be easy with her response. "I do have bad news though…" Holly turned to look at her. "I have to go undercover for about a week."

"Oh god…babe," Holly said. "When does this start?"

"Tomorrow …"

"Day and night?" Holly swallowed miserably. Gail confirmed with a nod and Holly scowled. "That kinda kills my appetite."

"I'm sorry," Gail said quickly. "I feel like a shit girlfriend."

Holly came over and cupped Gail's face. "Gail, it's not your fault that you were chosen for this assignment. We'll hate it, but Jade and I will survive. Now pick a wine out so we can have dinner."

Dinner was just what Holly and Gail needed. The meal was delicious and the conversation was easy and playful like it had always been for them. "I'll clean up," Gail stated once they both were finished.

"You don't have to," Holly said, still nursing her glass of wine.

"No," Gail insisted. It was the least she could do. "You finish your glass of wine in the living room and I'll be there in no time." Holly was reluctant, but did as she was told. Gail cleaned the kitchen in record speed and settled beside Holly with her own glass of wine less than twenty minutes later. "Thank you," she murmured as she sat knees first beside Holly. She softly kissed Holly's cheek and was awarded with a tender smile. She leaned forward and grabbed the remote from the coffee table in front of them. She clicked on the television and asked Holly what she wanted to watch.

"Anything," Holly said draining the contents of her glass and placing it in front of them. She stretched her arms and made herself a bit more comfortable on the couch. She watched as Gail settled on a movie, some type of thriller. "You're so beautiful," she commented humbly. She could see Gail's cheek flush a bit red, as if she didn't know she was stunning. Holly leaned over and kissed the side of her girlfriend's mouth tender, and then turned Gail's head slowly so that they were eye to eye. "You are so beautiful," she repeated again; this time she kissed Gail fully, tracing Gail's lips with her tongue.

Gail closed her eyes to the tender assault and tried to push the feelings of doubt from her mind. She was successful and returned Holly's kiss fully. She had forgotten how good Holly's mouth felt, the taste of wine soaking into her sense. She felt Holly's hand on her back, her fingertips slowly stroking her spine through the fabric of her black shirt. Gail opened her eyes again and her hands quickly went to the buttons at the front of Holly's shirt. She let out a simple giggle of delight at the exposed flesh beneath Holly's shirt. Her fingertips felt refreshed as she traced the outline of the taunt flesh covering Holly's exposed bellybutton. She could feel Holly tremble a bit, which made her hands all the more giddy for exploration. Still, she felt Holly pull back and when Gail's eyes screamed for justification, Holly covered her mouth again.

Holly pulled back, determined to be in charge right now, and pulled Gail's black shirt over the blonde's head. She mimicked what Gail had just done to her, and ran her hand over Gail's once bruised ribs. She leaned down, kissing the place that still bore the tiny scar from the impact of the thwarted bullet and then moved back up to Gail's neck and finally to her mouth. After a thorough assault on Gail's mouth, Holly sat back and just looked at Gail. She wanted to plead with Gail, tell her how much she missed her and wanted her to open up, but she could look into Gail's eyes and tell that more than anything, she just needed to make love to her girlfriend.

It was nearly two hours later, when they were upstairs in their bed, when Holly kissed Gail tenderly on the spine. Gail posture automatically tightened and Holly couldn't help but laugh. "Don't do that," Gail warned, turning her head in the opposite direction and closing her eyes. Their love-making had taken all of her energy and now all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Fine…just use me for dinner and sex," Holly teased lying flat on her back. "My feelings aren't hurt at all…"

Gail's head popped up and she turned over. "Holly, I would never use you for anything," Gail said solemnly.

Holly pulled at her top lip with her teeth, "Baby, I was just playing," she murmured sitting up. Gail calmed herself and batted her eyes blankly. "What's that about?" Holly whispered. Gail lay back down, but Holly rested her head on arm as she still faced Gail.

"Everyone knows you are too good to be with me…"

"That's not true," Holly shook her head.

"Even my mother thinks so…" Gail revealed slowly.

"When did you see Elaine?" Holly questioned. Perhaps only Steve understood better how Elaine affected Gail.

"Monday…she came here," Gail diverted her eyes from Holly's gaze. "She warned me not see Kiana Reyes."

"And you did anyway?" Holly stated trying to understand. "What did she say?"

"My mother or Kiana?"

"Both…" Holly sighed, knowing that neither had been pleasant to speak with as far as Gail was concerned.

"My mother said she couldn't understand how I had gotten you…and Kiana …" Gail looked around the room, trying to find the right words to explain, "Kiana said that Jade's mother is alive and is going to come back for her."

"What? Jade said her mother is dead…"

"Kiana told Jade that her mother is dead, but now she is saying that Jade's mom is very much alive. And not a nice person…"

"If she didn't want Jade when she was a child…why would she want her now?"

The sound of Holly's voice cracking nearly broke Gail's heart. They were having the exact same feelings about this situation and now Gail wished she had shared this information with her girlfriend earlier. "I don't know," Gail sighed wrapping her arms around Holly.

"Jade doesn't even know this woman…how are we supposed to protect her from someone she doesn't even know?"

"I don't know," Gail sighed again. They both became quiet.

"What are we going to tell Jade?" Holly wondered out loud.

"Nothing," Gail said quickly. "She doesn't need to know anything until I can be for sure."

"Why do you always take these things on yourself?" Holly's frustration showed and she moved away from Gail's reach a bit.

"Don't be like that…" Gail said trying to pull her back. "Holly, I'm a cop, it's my job to protect you two!"

"Jade and I just want your love … we will all protect each other." Gail let the words sink in.

"What do we do about Jade?"

Holly shook her head as if she didn't know and then shrugged. "We have to tell her the truth…" It was the exact answer that Gail didn't want to consider or even hear, yet she knew it was the only option. "Whatever we do, we'll do it together…promise?" Holly murmured against Gail's neck as she snuggled closer.

Without hesitation, Gail promised.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: First of all, let me thank everyone who comments or reviews on the story! It really helps to know everyone is enjoying reading as much as I enjoy writing this fic. Secondly, please forgive any errors or mistakes, I did a very quick edit because I wanted to get this out; it's a bit of a set-up chapter for what's to come! As always, I own nothing, and comments and reviews are welcomed! Enjoy! **

Stick, Stones, and Glass

Kiana Reyes figured that deep down inside, she wanted a confrontation. She deserved one at least, a face-to-face with her mother, and warning Gail Peck about the impeding dangers of Jade and her mother's activities would flush the woman out almost immediately. Still, Kiana's calculation had been wrong on two manners; it had taken nearly two weeks for her mother to respond, and even then, she didn't respond in person. She had sent over her henchmen, her main henchmen, Dr. Whitney Meeks.

"I'll assume she is murderously mad," Kiana said scratching at the washed out grey and blue jumpsuit that was required wearing in her prison. "She could have at least come herself."

"Are you feelings hurt Kiana? Whitney said with a glint of humor in her voice. She had been around Kiana since she was a child and nothing much had really changed with the girl. She had gotten taller and her body had progressed, but Kiana was really the same little five year old girl begging for her mother's attention. "If you did this for your mother's attention, then you got it. I'm pretty sure you are not going to want it now…but you got it," Whitney said easily.

Dr. Whitney Meeks was a truly stunning individual. She had been the first African-American woman to head the Biological Science departments at the University of Toronto, before she moved on to run Emporia Chemical Company seven years earlier. She and Kiana's mother had been friends for as long as they could remember, even moving through the University together. Dr. Meeks, although an intelligent woman, had a keen sense of loyalty to Kiana's mother for whatever reason, and Kiana was sure that one day this would be the woman's downfall.

"Is that a veiled threat, Dr.?" Kiana asked slightly amused.

"Three years…you would have been out of here in three years…but you choose this ugly path," Whitney choose her words wisely. The guards liked to make their rounds and listen in on every bit of conversation that they could. "You made yourself an imposition again; the first time, with Alex Ortiz, that piece of shit…I covered for you. But this time, Kiana…you left bodies everywhere, you shot your little sister and then, when your mother explicitly told you not to warn that officer…"

"Gail…" Kiana offered.

Whitney gritted down on her teeth and uncrossed her legs only to re-cross them a moment later. "First you shot Jade…the girl almost died, Kiana…"

"What does our mother want with her?" Kiana questioned bluntly.

Whitney smiled finally, tickled by the question. "Erica Jade is a very resourcefully girl. You know as much though…and your mother is a woman who can admit her mistakes. For a very long time, she assumed she was going to have to pass everything down to Nina. You being you…and Jade being sick…Nina was quickly becoming her only hope to keep her legacy going; but dammit, Jade is a bit of a wildcard."

"No!" Kiana said sliding the seat back a bit. "Just leave the kid alone!"

Whitney laugh sounded like the guttural snort of a pig. "Aren't you fancy; requesting that Jade be left alone after you sunk bullets into her!" Whitney's laughter stopped as quickly as it had started and her anger flashed. "You little snotty bitch! How high and mighty of you to want to protect the girl now! She is your mother's….she will do for her, what you couldn't make her do!"

"You underestimate Jade; she's not that easily persuaded. She will never get her hands dirty…"

"She will do what we say…or she will end up like you…" Whitney gathered herself and stood.

"In jail?" Kiana finished for her.

Whitney offered her laugh again and shook her head at Kiana. "It's funny…you don't realize that you're already dead…"she hissed through gritted teeth.

* * *

Haley Babbish had become somewhat of a fixture in the Stewart-Peck household over the last couple of weeks. Ever since Jade had begun her summer session some three weeks earlier and had partnered with Haley, the nineteen year old had been spending an immense amount of time over. She and Jade had an easy friendship, complementing each other greatly when it came to their educational aspects. Jade was amazing when it came to designing and building their robot and Haley had an uncanny ability to program mostly anything. It was a partnership made in heaven, since they were by far the youngest and shyest two students in their session.

This was why it made Holly happy when she came home and saw Jade and Haley working quietly in the living room that evening. She had stopped to pick up take-out, already figuring that she should pick up enough for Haley. "I picked up Korean barbecue," Holly announced tossing her keys in the bowl beside the door and heading into the kitchen. "You like that right, Haley?" she already knew that this was one of the foods that Jade adored.

Haley looked at Jade and they both burst into laughter. "She was just talking about Korean tacos," Jade informed Holly.

"Well good, because I got plenty of them," Holly said pulling the food containers out of the bag. "How was your day, you guys?" she asked stifling a yawn herself. She had gotten up at nearly four this morning, because Gail was in the mood. Since she had spent a week undercover, Gail's appetite for sex was in overdrive and although Holly was more than happy to oblige her, it was wearing her out physically. She just couldn't understand how Gail managed to do her shift, come home and be attentive to Jade and then make love to her two or three times before starting the entire cycle over again.

"We have a huge exam tomorrow and then we have an internship fair for the rest of the day," Jade answered frowning.

"Oh…why are you frowning?" Haley teased. "I'm the one who should be studying…you have a near photographic memory. You are the only person in the class who can have something explained to her once and remember it forever…"

"Not true," Jade shook her head but smirked. "I study very hard too…"

"You do study very hard," Haley smiled. "Never anything that we are actually doing in class, but you read a lot of magazines and do independent research."

"You two will do fine," Holly encouraged. "Internships, huh…it's that time already?"

"We are both considered third year students," Jade frowned. Being sixteen and in college was hard enough, but being severely younger than everyone in her classes made her feel distantly out of place and awkward. "Do you mind if Haley crashes here? We're probably going to study most of the night," Jade explained.

"Sure…" Holly agreed. "But you two should try to get some sleep…studies show that you remember more if you get a good night's sleep before big tests."

Jade's cell phone buzzed. "Excuse me…I gotta go check my…" she trailed off, still seemingly embarrassed by the process. Even though she had been checking her glucose levels on her own since she was about seven, it still bothered her that other people knew she was a diabetic. She headed upstairs, leaving Holly and Haley alone.

"Do you have any idea what internship you want?" Holly asked Haley pulling dishes down from the cabinet.

"There are a few I find interesting, but I kinda wanna do one with Jade. She's really fun and it helps a lot to have a friend…someone around my age."

"Oh yeah, that's understandable. What are you…eighteen…"

"I turned nineteen the day before Jade turned sixteen," Haley smiled. "I kinda lean more towards the biological sciences … I was thinking I wanted to go into Entomology for a while, but now …"

"Curlicue…" Jade said coming down the stairs and around the corner. "Curlicue…"

"A fancy curl as in a signature…" Haley answered easily. When Holly looked at the two weirdly, they both began laughing.

"Word of the day…" Jade explained. "She always gets them right…"

"And you always get all the math problems right," Haley reminded her. Holly couldn't help but laugh too. "Sorry…yeah, I like Entomology…but I don't think they have internships for that."

They all could hear the front door open and another set of keys hit the bowl.

"How about you, Jade? Any internship ideas?" Holly questioned.

"Hey all," Gail came into the room. She walked over and kissed Holly and then turned to open the fridge. "I'm starving," she mentioned.

"I picked up take-out…" Holly told her before turning back to Jade.

"No…Holly, I have no idea, really. I would rather not take an internship…"

"You are taking an internship already?" Gail questioned, popping the top of a soda. "It's your first year of University."

"She has enough credits to be considered third year," Haley explained. "We both are …so we have to do internship fair tomorrow…"

"Oh…" Gail sighed. "No ideas whatsoever?"

"I'm more concerned about the exam," Jade admitted. She pushed a button on her remote control and watched as the robot moved. Jade and Haley both shared a smile. "Yes….we are halfway finished about five days early!"

Although neither Gail nor Holly understand what that meant, they were happy Jade was happy. "So…I was thinking, since I missed your birthday, how about we do something Friday?"

Jade looked at Gail, a glint of happiness sparkling in her brown eyes. "We don't have to…you and Holly got me the Ipod and the speaker and the new phone."

"Yeah, but we didn't celebrate…we should celebrate," Gail clarified. "Haley can come and I know Traci, Leo and Steve would love to do something."

"Sounds like a great idea," Holly agreed. She loved how laidback Jade was, but at the same time she wanted her to enjoy more of the things that made teenage life fun. "And what about your other friends…they can come too."

A stark frown crossed Jade's face as she shrugged looking over at Haley. Haley diverted her attention back to the computer screen in front of her, not wanting to make eye contact. "Did I miss something?"

"Yeah, Donyelle and I don't talk anymore," Jade said dryly.

"What about Ricky?" Gail asked, that named etched in her mind because she wanted so badly to run a background check on the seventeen year old boy.

"I definitely don't talk to him anymore," Jade rolled her eyes. When Gail and Holly waited for an explanation she sighed heavily and went on. "Ricky got Donyelle pregnant…"

"I thought you and Ricky were…" the words failed Holly to describe what she had actually believed.

"I wouldn't put out and when he tried to persuade…"

"What do you mean tried to persuade…" Gail put her soda down and squinted her eyes a bit. Holly put her hand on Gail's shoulder. "What …I need clarification…"

"It doesn't matter…I think I broke his finger…" Jade smiled at Gail's reaction. "I do have one good hand…" she reminded them. "Either way…what I wouldn't do…Donyelle obviously did…several times and so now I don't talk to them."

"You're probably better off," Holly said pulling away from Gail to wash her hands and start making everyone's plate.

"I don't think I'm ever going to do date…" Jade said carrying her plate over to the dining room table.

"You will date…" Gail said, the words tasting sour in her mouth. "But for now…it's probably best you concentrate on your coursework," Gail agreed.

"Do you think you can arrest Ricky and Donyelle?" Jade asked after everyone had sat down.

"Absolutely," Gail said without hesitation, which made everyone laugh.

* * *

"Do you think that Jade has …" Gail didn't want to ask, but it seemed practical. Holly's head was on her shoulder and she was drifting off to sleep.

"I doubt it," Holly said yawning again. It was only nine, but she was exhausted. She had processed so many people that day and had been awake so long…

"If I ever meet him, I'm going to punch him in the face," Gail decided flipping the channels of the television. Jade and Haley were upstairs in her room studying and Holly was positively falling asleep on her shoulder. Gail kissed her on the forehead. "Why are you so tired?" she asked innocently. She knew that she had been sexually insatiable lately, but Holly did that to her. The whole set up for normalcy turned her on for some reason.

Holly looked up and Gail and stuck her tongue out. "You know why I'm exhausted…" she was about to continue when her cell phone rang. "Ugh," she groaned leaning over to pick up the device. "I'm on call tonight…"

Before Gail could say that it sucked to be on call, the doorbell rang. She reluctantly left the sofa and went to answer the door. "Steve," she said surprised. "Shouldn't you be…"

Her brother pulled her outside onto the stoop. "I need to talk to you…" he said barely above a whisper.

"What is it?" Gail asked weirdly nervous all of the sudden.

"Kiana Reyes is in the prison morgue…apparent suicide…" Steve explained quickly. He didn't have time to continue, because Holly came outside to join them.

"Is it true?" she asked seeming somewhat shaken. "I just got a call from the morgue saying that Kiana Reyes' body was being transferred in …they want a full autopsy."

"She killed herself," Steve offered.

"That's not confirmed," Holly explained. "Dr. Warner said she was bleeding internally."

"What does that mean?" Gail questioned.

"It could mean any number of things…I won't know until I do an entire autopsy on her…"

Gail leaned back against the closed door, "Jesus, how are we going to tell Jade. She has exams tomorrow and internships…oh god…" Gail moaned.

"We'll tell her tomorrow…when we have some more definitive answers," Holly said hugging Gail. "I have to go in now…I'll call you later…" Holly kissed Gail, but sighed. This was a never ending cycle lately. The feeling of security being ripped away with a blink of the eye.

"She doesn't think it's a suicide does she?" Steve asked as they watched Holly drive away.

"It will be hell of a lot less scary if it is just a suicide," Gail closed her eyes.

"I wouldn't tell the kid yet," Steve offered. It was all he knew how to say at this moment.

"Yeah…she has exams and internship stuff tomorrow…"

"Gail…Holly…" Jade came to the door. "Oh, hey Steve," she smiled. "Gail…do we have any extra index card."

"Check the bottom drawer in the desk in the living room," Gail said absently.

"Listen, give me a call first thing when Holly lets you know something…"

"Is this your case?" Gail questioned.

"Nah, I just care about your family…" Steve headed to his car and drove all.

It was well after two in the morning before Holly came home and turned on the hot water of the shower. Gail was snoring lightly, but was alert by the time Holly lay down beside her. "What was it?"

"Internal bleeding, caused by tiny shards of glass in the bowel. No one intentionally swallows glass, Gail…" Holly said weakly.

"So someone did this to her?" Gail said rubbing her eyes to the fresh darkness.

"Yeah…someone got her…" she said moving closer to Gail. Suddenly, the world felt a lot less safe.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey, thanks to everyone for the patience, work has been a mess, but things should be clearing up here soon and I can throw some more focus towards my stories! Thanks again for the patience and enjoy.**

**As always: I own nothing! **

Coverage

Elaine Peck tried to take a deep breath and calm herself, but the action hadn't helped one bit. On her desk was a filing, a filing that had been passed on to her as a courtesy from one of her lawyer friends. "They plan to sue."

"Who is 'they' and why are they planning to sue?" Elaine had asked evenly.

"Wrongful death and police overreach, in general but especially, Division 15. Elaine, it doesn't look good that Gail is living with the woman who has custody of the dead girl's sister," Palmer Reign explained softly. "None of this looks good."

"And we only care about what looks good? Not that the girl and Gail are good for one another?" Elaine tried to temper her temper.

"You can answer that for yourself, Elaine. I just know that the girl died yesterday and the forensic pathologist, who happens to be shacking up with your daughter, found it to be a homicide. Which would make it an inside job…which will…"

"Make us all look terrible," Elaine sighed. "It's your call Palmer…it's your public relations nightmare." Palmer gave her the look that let her know that he knew better. This was everyone's nightmare, he would only be handling the spin on it.

"This looks bad from all angles, Elaine. But the fact that a Peck has her name involved…"

"What do you need me to do, Palmer?"

"Separate Gail from the situation…then it may wouldn't hurt to put some distance between the forensic pathologist and the kid either. A nice family reunion between the kid and anyone wouldn't hurt."

"The girl that was on the slab…last living family member for Jade."

"Aunts…uncles…we'll take whatever, Elaine. Just …handle the Gail situation first."

"Palmer, you know my daughter. Does she seem like the type that can be handled…at all?"

"The Division is going down for this…Kiana's case has a good lawyer, a great young lawyer with a chip on her shoulder. She just wants a win…at any cost…"

"I got it," Elaine closed her eyes. "How long before the story gets out?"

"It's six in the morning now, twelve hours maybe. Faster than that if the lawyer doesn't slow play this…but I have a hunch, she wants to see our reaction. We aren't the only players in this game, Elaine," Palmer reminded her.

"Yeah, but it's a lot harder to play the game when you don't know who you are playing against…"

* * *

"Madison Garrison-Chambers…fresh out of law school, third year practicing law. She's perfect; she'll keep them tied up while we get this shipment through," Whitney explained.

"I paid all that money for law school, and your son still wouldn't touch this case?" the woman asked lifting a brow. "Your kids are very frustrating, Meeks," she said calmly.

Whitney took a calculating sip from her coffee and closed her eyes. "Are you really going to lecture me on child-rearing? Only one of yours is still alive…"

"And you have four, but want mine now…" Shoshana smiled arrogantly. "I need full access to the facilities for two weekends...three if the shipment is bigger than we think."

"Is that a possibility? That it's bigger than we think, because I only have two people for processing," Whitney said looking down at her calendar. "Next weekend and the weekend after that, then we'll have it out for transport in three days."

"It's a lot of heroin," Shoshana stated matter-of-factly. "One more after this…and I'm done."

"Retiring, Shoshana?" Whitney had heard this line before. "Too much blood on your hands? We can handle this…we've always handled it, haven't we?"

"Why do you want, Jade?" Shoshana asked out of the blue. She hadn't questioned Whitney at first, when she brought up Jade, but now… "I'm leaving after this…maybe move to Europe …see the world. I just…I never assumed I would get tired of the business…but…"

"We were younger then, Shoshana," Whitney laughed. "Drugs were fun…"

"Then why'd you do this? Chemical company…professorships instead of jumping down the rabbit hole like me? I had opportunities too…I pissed them away."

"You are a very rich woman…"

"I sacrificed three children…two of them are dead now," she stated sadly. Whitney had never seen this side of Shoshana, but she didn't like it. Their deal hinged on her letting Jade go and now Shoshana was waxing poetic about missed opportunities and her children. "Stop looking so worried, Whitney. I don't want her back…the deal still on…this shipment gets moved…I leave her alone for good."

Whitney chose not to comment. "You've flushed the area with heroin. This 'lawsuit' will keep the Division busy long enough to get this and the next shipment done."

"That's all I want…" Shoshana said standing. "I trust you, Whitney. We've been friends for a very long time, so you keep your word and I'll keep mine." She headed to the door, but stopped. "All of this is in the name of freedom, right? You don't want me to get my hooks into her…you'd prefer your hooks in her?" When Whitney said nothing, she nodded her head. "Yeah…that's what it is…" she said cynically. "Should I regret what I did with my children, Whitney?"

"No more than anyone else should, Whitney."

* * *

"Your mother is sitting on our couch," Holly whispered in Gail's ear softly. Gail tried to gather her wits and open her eyes, but she failed at it twice. The third time was the charm and she managed to open them enough to glimpse at the clock on the side dresser.

"It's not even eight," she moaned, partly because Holly was already awake and she had slept like hell the night before and partly because her mother, before eight! "Are you kidding?" she asked turning onto her side. "What is she doing here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Holly answered honestly. She had opened the door and offered Elaine a cup of coffee, which she had graciously accepted. And then Holly had quickly run upstairs to get Gail out of bed.

"Is Jade…?" Gail said, last night's events coming back to her.

"I let her take her exam…I didn't want to…"

"Babe, why are you awake…you just went to sleep…" Gail frowned finally sitting up.

"I slept," Holly said standing up. "Your mother is downstairs, Gail. Why is your mother downstairs?"

She ran her hands through her blond hair. "Your guess is as good as mine, Holly. I'll be down in a minute."

And she was down in a minute, to her girlfriend and her mother, who had only talked a sum of three times. The uncomfortableness was palpable and Gail entering the room didn't lessen the discomfort any. "Mother…look at you…drinking my coffee, making my girlfriend uncomfortable," Gail joked moving over to kitchen and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Gail…" Elaine was baffled. She had no idea what she should say; how she should even approach the subject that she was about to approach. "We have a problem…"

"A problem," Gail took a sip of her coffee and peered over at Holly. "This have anything to do with Kiana Reyes dying in lock-up?"

"This has everything to do with Kiana Reyes. Does Erica Jade know yet?"

"No," Holly answered for Gail. "She had an exam this morning…and internship fair later; we figured it wouldn't matter to wait until afterwards…"

"Okay…well, I was actually hoping that you would all be here; but I'll assume this is better," Elaine said gently. "Gail, Division 15 is going to be sued because of Kiana Reye's death."

Gail stood up straighter and eyed her mother, hoping that this was some type of cruel joke. Of course, she say no humor in her mother's eyes. "It wasn't the Division's fault…" Gail stammered. It was unlike her to be shaken, but this news had truly thrown her off.

"Gail," her mother started gently, "I know that, and you know that but…this situation is a bit too intertwined and has the uncanny ability to be over-embellished."

Gail looked over at Holly, who was thoroughly confused. She wasn't accustomed to how Elaine Peck described matters. "Our involvement with Jade is going to look like scandal," she explained to her girlfriend.

"How so?" Holly questioned Elaine.

"The girl who shot the Inspector's daughter, ends up dead in prison…it has mess written all over it," Gail answered for her mother.

"Not to mention that you were the last person to visit her while she was alive," Elaine reminded her daughter, her voice teeming with 'I-told-you-so.' "Gail, you shot someone on your day off, she went to prison, and you essentially received custody of her little sister; who had an unregistered gun. This sounds terrible from every angle."

"Because it was a terrible situation…not because we did anything wrong!" Gail huffed. After a moment, Gail looked up at her mother, "What's the solution?"

Elaine looked at Holly instead of Gail. "We have to get out in front of this situation; Gail, we need you to take administrative leave…" she began. "And it would be best if we created some separation between Gail and Jade…"

"What does that mean? Holly questioned softly.

When her mother wouldn't answer, Gail let out a tight humorless laugh. "She means I need to move out…" Gail figured out quickly. "Put some distance between the problems…which are Jade and me, right Inspector?" Gail said trying to swallow her hatred for the situation and the fact that her mother thought it was fine to even suggest. "Did you come up with this…or was it Palmer? I'm assuming it was collaboration…"

"Gail…this is for your own good…"

"The leave or ripping me from my family," Gail questioned angrily. She looked at Holly, who was stunned speechless.

"I am your family, Gail, Division 15 is your family and if you don't comply…this could be very ugly, very quickly. Right now…this can all be controlled. It could look like some eager lawyer jumped the gun, but if anyone starts digging…"

"Digging…we've done nothing wrong. It was a clean shoot, and no one had a hand in Kiana Reye's death!"

Elaine put down her coffee cup and stood. "We were lucky to get the jump on this, Gail. When this does get to the media, all of Kiana's friends are going to want someone to blame. Now, please do the right thing and let us protect you for a little while; at least until this blows over." She headed towards the door.

"How long is my leave?" Gail questioned as her mother moved closer to the door.

"No decisions have been finalized, Gail. Please, just think about moving to a safe house. "

"Would you ask Steve to leave Tracy and Leo if the tables were turned?" Gail asked seriously.

Elaine looked dejectedly at her daughter for a moment. She knew that Gail assumed Steve was the Golden Boy, but this had nothing to do with the difference between her and Steve and everything to do with protecting her and that Division. "Yes, to protect him and that Division, I would make him step away until things cooled down." She opened the front door and closed it gently behind herself.

It took Gail a moment, but eventually she settled. "It never ceases to amaze me the cheerful news my mother brings…" Gail tried to shrug it off. She smiled at Holly, trying to ease her anxiety a bit, but Holly only stared off into space from her seat in the armchair adjacent to the couch. "Holly…Holly…she's overreacting. My mother is overreacting." Gail walked over to the chair and kneeled down. "Baby...she's …"

"She's not though, is she?" Holly closed her eyes. "She's being practically; she's trying to protect us, isn't she?"

Gail hated to even entertain the thought, but it did appear that her mother was trying to protect them. "It doesn't matter because I'm not leaving you two," Gail said cupping Holly's face. She saw the fear in Holly's eyes and bit her down on her lower lip. "Yes, that was Elaine Peck being protective though…protective of her Division. Lawsuits are messy…they break Divisions apart."

"So, she is not trying to protect you…protect us?" Holly asked after a few moments.

Gail shrugged, "I'm not leaving you and Jade," she said again firmly. "Jesus, we haven't even told Jade…she's taking an exam…"

"Your mother mentioned a safe house…could we all go?"

"It would defeat the purpose," Gail said quickly. "My mother wants us not to be seen together…mainly for me to separate myself from Jade. She can control my work life…she can't control my personal life."

"Your career could be the line, Gail… you are already on leave."

"Formality," Gail said moving to the couch. "I'm exhausted…tired of talking about this…let's not talk about it anymore…" her blue eyes sparkled for a moment. "Let's talk about anything else…"

Holly stood and headed over to the couch, moving knee first onto the couch beside Gail. "Is it terrible that I want to go back to sleep?" she smiled, trying to shake off the feelings of anxiety.

Gail stretched out on the couch and pulled Holly onto her. "Not terrible at all."

* * *

Jade lay stretched out across the picnic table in the middle of the quad and looked up at the sky as Haley refreshed the computer page again and again. "This is why I hate scan-trons," her friend sighed. "The promise of a quick turn-around which only makes me more nervous!" Haley looked Jade, who had now closed her eyes to the sun shining on her face. "I'm glad you can relax in times like these."

Jade stifled a yawn but opened one of her eyes. "We studied all night, I'm exhausted. I could barely answer any of those questions. Multiple choice and I swear half of the time, the answers were exactly the same," she moaned.

Haley rolled her eyes and refreshed the page vigorously. "Are you hungry?" she questioned, poking Jade in her side. "Why are you laying on the top of the table?"

"Because you hogged all the covers last night and I got practically no sleep," Jade answered smiling. "And no, I'm not hungry…I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to skip the internship fair…go home and take a nap instead."

"You are at least going to get the applications," Haley said. "Ah…they are up!" she said excitedly. "Geez…96…I missed 1," she scolded herself. She looked over the professor's comments and then turned the computer around to Jade. "Are you going to check yours?" Jade turned her head and gave Haley the look that signaled that she didn't care about her score. "Can I check your score?" Haley asked turning the computer back around. Jade nodded, and Haley backed out of her account and logged into Jade's.

"What's the damage," Jade asked after Haley hadn't said anything after a moment.

"96…" Haley said.

"The runner gets the tie," Jade laughed, which sparked a laugh in Haley also. "I win."

"How do you win? Why are you the runner?" Haley wanted to know.

Jade ignored the question. "So that means no internship fair. Let's go somewhere fun," she sat up, which prompted a sheering pain to shoot through her shoulder. She gripped it immediately but let it go quickly. She and Haley hadn't had that conversation…the one where she explained that her sister had shot her three times. Haley knew that there had been an "accident" because there were visible scars, just not what had exactly happened.

"Are you okay?" Haley asked, her eyes clouded with concern. She reached up and touched Jade gently, but Jade pulled back slightly.

"Yeah…fine," Jade tried to joke. "Old sports injury…" The pain didn't subside and she made her way to the edge of the table and placed her feet on the ground. "Let's go to this fair," she said reaching back and grabbing her bag.

Haley shut her computer lid. "I can carry that," she offered.

Jade looked at her with a hurt gaze. "Nah, I got it," she said softly. She led the way into the building in front of him and into the internship fair.

"There is nothing here that I want to do," Haley said after a few laps around the booths that were set up. They had seven applications between them, only two from actual science based companies. "Can we stop by Emporia Chemical Company…?"

"I thought they made pesticides, we're environmentalist…" Jade finally smiled. She had been a bit quiet since her shoulder started hurting.

"You are not an environmentalist; but working there can effect change," Haley said handing Jade an application and taking one for herself. "Jade…are you listening?" Haley said looking over at her friend, but Jade's attention was fixated on the television screen at the other end of the room. "Jade…what's the matter?"

Jade could only see her sister's face flash on the television screen as a news broadcaster said something. Jade made it close enough to the television just in time to hear the end of the story. _Kiana Reye's body has been transported to the city morgue to determine the exact cause of death._


End file.
